



Rnnk T i t 


Gopght N? 


COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 











V 




* 


v 

e 


«■ 


« 


w 


) 

4l 





There Stood In the Doorway a Girl Looking Y ounger Than N an 


(The Little Aunt) 


(Page 70) 











THE LITTLE 
AUNT 

BY 

MARION AMES TAGGART 

y4uthor o/* 

"Six Girls and **7^0 JDoclors Z/iH/e 

Girl," "The Ti/lle Grei/ //ouseTelc,, 


ILvl^USTRATED BY 

PUTH BINGHAM 



CHICAGO 

M.A.DONOHUE & CO 


Copyright 1913 
by 

M. A. Donohue & Co. 

CHICAGO 


I 


F'EB"i6l9i4 


©CI.A309009 


CONTENTS 


Chapter Page 

I — Miss Ailsa Brett 7 

II — The Maiden Aunt 23 

III — Unpacking — ^Minds and Trunks 40 

lY — I ntroducing the Maiden Aunt 57 

V — ^The New Girl 75 

VI — Enthusiasms 93 

VII — ‘‘Some Pumpkins’^ 110 

VIII — ^JusT Being Good 128 

IX — The Pendulum Swings 146 

X — Resting Merry 164 

XI — Dramatics 182 

XII — “The Romany Duchess” 199 

XIII — ^Ailsa Judges for Herself 219 

XIV — ^A Triangular Tangle 239 

XV—The Plank 260 

XVI— “What, Ailsa Brett!” 279 

XVII— “The House Aunt” 297 

XVIII— A Postscript 313 




r t »l 


i5* 


V • 





I ■; 




- 


• . 

- 4 i» .i\ ^ '1 


’ K-.yf 

M : 

■ ^,A,\a 1 .S^j 


* ,1 


' ■ ' r>-- - • 

' 


V I 


» 


« r 


,r . 


’ VI. iVV. '• 

Hv TV JT 


.t" r 


i 




« 

> 


S> 


LiArct 


4 !- 


pv I 


I ■' ' 




> * .• J 


?7 


.• •>. ■,■’'■ '-' 

;-y4*;l;;'''':,{>-y .■;,;-H' , ; / /4 

* , ' 


I 


•t 


I’l 


J 4 I rr 


^ • V, 


.V^ \ 




‘ H'-y ' 

. V f. I I > • 1 I . I ' 




v; 


i <4 p 


Wwr IfW 'IWK ffUwvX.’ 

ijj^' ‘', joBj/SytSw^ A ^ * ihBXUK^ ^ rjrfASuS^ 

IML vffiWmAt [fllSmiH ' 

’.y.*' ■' •*•*■ 1 ^,** ' 1 ■' i '^SW wKi VirJWfi 

W: ^ *li 


\ ''A* j V'" *t V' 



snjVJQ^VVVM ' * ' ^ I 




I • 


f’ 




■IB 


• '..f ' « ■/ ■ . 


•f 


■\ii 









* <1 


Jk/]J^J^ 0 iv^i 













The Little Aunt 


CHAPTER I 

MISS AILSA BRETT 

expect my sister to visit us/' announced 
Mr. Brett suddenly. 

The young Bretts were used to their father's 
unexpectedness. None of the Bretts ever did 
anything, at any time, or in any way that could 
have been predicted, and this characteristic 
they derived first hand from their father; their 
mother had merely caught it from having mar- 
ried a Brett. But this announcement was 
unforeseen beyond the ordinary. 

^‘It's your half-sister, isn't it?" asked Nan 
Brett, the eldest girl, by way of collecting her 
thoughts aloud. ‘‘You haven't a whole sister, 
have you?" 

“No, of course not, but that doesn't affect 
her as a visitor. She's coming," returned Mr. 
Brett. 

The young Bretts had never known any mem- 
ber of their father's family. His father had 
married a second time, and Mr. Brett had left 
home in consequence when he was sixteen. He 
and his sister could not — or thought that they 
could not — submit to a new mother who was 
only four or five years older than they were, so 
they had taken themselves off to a distant rela- 
tive and at his house had finished their growing 
up. The sister had married and gone to Aus- 


8 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


tralia, such an unlikely thing to do that it proved 
her a true Brett. There she had died, so Nan 
was right in saying that her father had no 
“whole sister.’’ 

In a general way the young Bretts knew that 
their father had three or four half brothers and 
sisters, but till this moment these fractional 
aunts and uncles had not actually taken on 
existence in their minds. 

“Is she married?” asked Dinsmore, the oldest 
boy. He spoke in tones that showed that he 
expected the worst, and he rubbed his chin 
gloomily along the back of the chair on which 
he sat astride, wincing occasionally when he for- 
got to go lighter over the middle, where the 
carving was. 

Mr. Brett looked at him, then he laughed, 
“No, Dins, she’s not married,” he said. His 
manner was queer, and sharp TiUy, the middle 
girl, pounced upon him in an instant. Tilly’s 
name was Matilda Pillsbury and she was called 
Tilly-Pilly, “the Pill” and “the Flour of the 
Family,” for obvious reasons. She was ten 
years old, abnormally thin and long, and given 
to pouncing. 

“An old maid ! ” Tilly cried now. “ Isn ’t that 
the limit? A maiden aunt! We don’t need 
her, father — ^Mr. Augustus Brett!” 

“You don’t know what you need. Till; I 
do. ” And her father made a suggestive motion 
with his right arm that caused Dins to call out 
“Second that motion!” 

“Well, I agree with the Pill,” said Nan 


MISS AILSA BRETT 


9 


heartily. maiden aunt in the house is not 
a well-spring of joy. We are not model children, 
but we have about as much fun as there is go- 
ing — ^and we generally make it go, besides. And 
if the neighbors do think we^re the worst ever 
we know perfectly well that they’re sadly mis- 
taken. We are not bad one speck; we raise 
Cain, but we don ’t need caning. We are square 
and we honor our parents in our own way, 
though we do act as if they were jokes — ^which 
they are! She paused to squeeze her father’s 
arm. And now there will come a maiden aunt, 
right into the bosom of our family, misunder- 
standing us and disapproving us and making a 
nuisance of herself and embittering our youth! 
Can’t I see her! Kind of thin, like the Pill, but 
not in the least like her in any other way. Rigid 
and correct, forever saying: ^Children!’ in that 
tone, you know! Wears taffeta day in and day 
out, and looks like it, all shiny and proper! 
We’ll either die under it, or finish her, that’s 
sure. I guess we’ll finish her,” added Nan 
thoughtfully. 

’ ^^Well, now I guess!” echoed Dins. ''Any 
doubt which way it ’ll go, Sister Anne? ” "What’ll 
she bring us? ” inquired the baby, little Augusta, 
called "the Gussette,” by way of diminutive 
and to emphasize her feminine form of her 
father’s name. 

"She’ll bring us each a little Bible, too small 
type,” cried Tilly. 

"It wouldn’t hurt you to have one,” 
said Mrs. Brett, who had come in unseen. 


10 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


She was round and plump and merry, her 
light hair always looked rumpled and she 
usually appeared slightly out of breath, as if she 
were hurrying to catch up with her utterly hope- 
less arrears of unperformed tasks. Her children 
adored her, treating her with affectionate non- 
sense, as if she had been, as Nan said, ^^a joke, 
but, though their manner to her and to their 
father, shocked people who did not understand 
it, it was rarely that the young Bretts failed to 
carry out the least suggestion from either of 
their parents. In their queer, scrambling, hap- 
py-go-lucky way the elder Bretts had so much 
love from their noisy brood that they were better 
obeyed than most parents — only it did not look 
like obedience, for neither father nor mother 
often uttered a command. 

^'Whom were you talking about, children? 
Mrs. Brett now added. 

^^Of our maiden aunt,’^ said Nan, making a 
wry face. 

Cominghere, ” added Tilly. Then as she inter- 
cepted a glance that passed between her father 
and mother, she cried : N. T., N . T. ! ” Which 
was the Brett code, standing for ^'No tele- 
graphing!’’ used when they meant to forbid 
secrets between any members of the family. 

'‘Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Brett blandly. "Your 
Aunt Ailsa; I see. We hardly realized that 
you had an Aunt Ailsa, did we?” 

"Never heard of her, ’s far as I know,” 
growled Dins, and the tone did away with the 
necessity of adding: "And never wanted to.” 


MISS AILSA BRETT 


II 


^‘What we say, mumsy, is that we do not 
need her,’’ explained Nan. ^'We know v/hat 
a maiden aunt is in books and we don ’t want one 
in our family serial. The best thing Daddy 
Brett can do is to change his name and dye his 
whiskers, and refuse to be a brother to her.” 

Maybe, she won’t be as bad as we think,” 
suggested Jimmy, speaking for the first time. 
He was eight years old, and was, comparatively, 
the quiet one of the family. ^^Pull down your 
shades, sunny Jim; no time for shining now,” 
said Dins. hate taking a cheerful view of 
things. ” 

Children,” said Mr. Brett solemnly. 
shall be much hurt if you are wanting in respect- 
ful consideration of my sister’s. Miss Ailsa 
Brett’s, feelings. Even though I have not known 
her and she is but my half sister still you must 
treat her as you should.” 

There, you see!” Nan appealed to the world 
in an aggrieved tone. ^^The trail of the serpent 
is stalking over our Eden!” 

''Trails don’t stalk, sister Anne,” murmured 
Dins. "Serpents themselves aren’t what you 
could call real stalkers. ” 

"When did Daddy Brett ever lecture us before 
on our behavior, which we haven ’t had a chance 
to behave?” Nan continued, disregarding him. 
"My goodness, father— Mr. Augustus Brett, 
what are we to do and how do you want us to do 
it?” 

"When Miss Brett comes you must receive 
her pohtely,” Mr. Brett began his instruc- 


12 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


tion. ''You are to give her the best chair 
when she enters the room, rising of course, 
respectfully. We have never insisted on these 
formal manners toward ourselves, your mother 
and I, but toward your Aunt Ailsa it will be 
necessary to observe them. You must always 
stand until she is seated. You must reply to 
her remarks with what I should describe as frank 
deference. You must all be perfectly quiet if 
she takes a nap in the afternoon, as maiden 
ladies are said to be prone to do. You must 
be afways ready to find her eyeglasses — ^maiden 
ladies frequently mislay them — and to thread 
her needles, or hold her yarn when she is at 
work. You are to be ready to escort her to 
walk, or to lectures, or to whatever form of im- 
proving entertainment she is addicted. You 
are to read aloud to her at any and all times 
that she desires you to. In a word, you must 
be the sort of good and dutiful children, quiet, 
self-effacing, yet attentive, that I am sure your 
Aunt Ailsa will expect to find you. 

Dins looked up, as Nan sank back in her chair, 
pretending to faint, and Tilly groaned, falling 
face downward into the sofa pillow. 

'^Something queer about this,’’ Dins ob- 
served. "The only way father could get us to 
be that sort of stained glass kids would be to 
take us to a taxidermist and have us all stuffed, 
and he knows it. Own up. Daddy Brett; what 
are you getting at?” 

"My dear boy,” said Mr. Brett still more 
solemnly, but there was a look in his eye that 


MISS AILSA BRETT 


13 


showed Dins that the solemnity was not as 
solemn as it seemed, fear that you may fall 
short of the standard I have set you, but I hope 
that you will aim at it, so that you won^t com- 
pletely miss it. Your Aunt Ailsa is a stranger 
to us all and you must lay aside your nonsense 
if she proves to be a serious-minded lady, whom 
it will annoy. Keep in mind that your maiden 
aunt is coming and that while she is here you 
must be quiet and conventional, which you 
know, you never are as it is. 

She’s younger than you, and you’re not 
old enough to want a padded cell,” said Nan, 
with a sudden flash of Jimmy’s hopefulness. 
^‘Neither is mumsy. Maybe Aunt Ailsa won’t 
be the kind of pulpit-on-wheels we’re looking 
for.” 

But her father did not encourage her cheer- 
fuller vein. 

^^A maiden aunt, you know,” he suggested, 
shaking his head. ^^You can’t expect her to be 
like us, who have grown up with you, so to 
speak. “The only thing to do is to look upon 
her coming as a sort of discipline and to make 
up your minds to doing your duty just as well 
as you can.” 

Dins arose from his chair by the simple, if not 
wholly graceful expedient of pulling it out from 
under him by the back upon which he had been 
dismally resting his chin all this time. He swung 
it around above his head, setting the chandelier 
quivering as he did so, and planted the chair 
on its legs with its back against the wall with an 


14 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


emphasis that told all he could not say. Then 
he began to chant dismally and slowly to the 
tune known as ^‘Tell Aunt Rhody/’ 

‘^Tell Aunt Ailsa, tell Aunt Ailsa, tell Aunt 
Ailsa to cut us out.^^ 

Whereupon Nan, followed by Tilly and Jim 
joined him in the second line: 

^^We don^t want her, we don’t want her, we 
don’t want her there’s no doubt. ” 

Which, though not a brilliant performance 
seemed to make them feel better. 

Mrs. Brett’s motherly heart failed her. ^^It’s 
really a shame, Gus!” she declared, but went 
no further when her Gus frowned at her. ^ ^N ever 
mind, children,” she said cheerfully, being 
checked in her desire to say something else. 
^^I’ve no doubt we’ll all get on more comfort- 
ably than we think with this Aunt Ailsa. It 
doesn’t seem — ^now does it? — as though she 
could be so dreadfully stiff and precise if she’s 
any fraction of a relation to us? And a half 
sister is really a close relation.” 

^^Well, it’s just half Nan’s relation to me,” 
observed Dins. 

^^Yes, and with half gone there must'be a 
sense of nonsense left in Aunt Ailsa big enough 
to enjoy part of your frolics, at any rate,” 
said their mother. Come on ; let ’s make some 
candy and not cross our bridges till we get 
to them.” 

^'You nice little bundle of mumsiness!” 
cried Nan affectionately. thought you said 


MISS AILSA BRETT 


15 


you had to make that shirt waist for your- 
self this very day/’ 

^^So I do have to!” laughed Mrs. Brett. 
forgot all about it. Oh dear! Well, never 
mind!” she added cheering up. ^^If you hadn’t 
reminded me I’d have made the candy and 
never been the wiser, so I may as well make it 
any way, and cheer you poor frightened chickens. 
I dare say I ’ll get on without the waist a vrhile 
longer, though how I do not see, for I cannot 
mend my old one once more. Never mind; 
fudge now and shirt waists later!” 

She wound her arm around her oldest daughter 
and pulled Tilly and Jimmy into line with her 
other hand, while little Gussie hung herself 
around her mother’s waist. Thus adorned, 
and with Dirts tearing out ahead of her Mrs. 
Brett went toward the kitchen to make fudge 
and a pleasant jollification for her children, while 
her sorely needed waist waited. Which goes to 
show what a happy, but wholly irresponsible 
family the Brett’s was, one which a correct 
maiden aunt might well disapprove, yet surely 
ought to love. 

The next three days were busy ones for it 
seemed that the maiden aunt was not only 
coming, she was coming within less than a w^eek, 
and preparations for her arrival w^ent on vig- 
orously. For the first time since its foundation 
the House of Brett was divided against itseh. 
The children were gloomy, while the heads of 
the house were twinlding with pleasure, as if they 
and the whole world — except their owm young 


16 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


brood — shared a pleasant, humorous secret. 

This was such an unwonted state of things 
that it increased the young Brett^s gloom; as a 
rule they were twinkling too, for this air of pos- 
sessing a humorous secret was the happy way 
that all the Bretts had of facing the world. ^ It 
was hard to be dreading and disliking the coming 
of the maiden aunt and to see one’s ordinarily 
chummy parents going about with beaming 
faces. 

'^Of course, it’s because they are really grown 
up, though they seem just like us,” explained 
Tilly disgustedly. “We don’t feel it in them, 
but I suppose there’s one side of every father 
and mother, even the j oiliest ones, that likes 
to sit down and talk with maiden aunts. ” 

“ Something like that girl in the show who had 
a yellow dress on the right hand half of herself, 
and black on the other half of her, so she looked 
like two girls when she whirled around,” Jimmie 
helped his sister develop her idea. 

The guest chamber had to be put into apple 
pie order for the expected guest. Nan covered 
the couch cushions anew so that the maiden 
aunt might be induced to lie down, if she were 
not strong. Dins nailed new strips of canvas 
across the under side of the seat of the arm chair. 
“She may be a heavy weight,” he said as if he 
thought her capable of almost anything. 

TiUie emptied the bran out of the pin cushion 
after little Gussie discovered a small mouse on 
the dresser, nibbling it, because she insisted that 


MISS AILSA BRETT 17 

there might be a family of mice established 
in its middle. 

And if a maiden aunt happened to run a pin 
in and struck a mouse, and it squeaked sheM 
probably go on something awful,” Tilly said. 

should myself,” said Nan, ^^but who ever 
heard of a mouse in a pin cushion?” 

^^One was nibbling it, and maybe there was 
another inside, ” insisted Tilly, and so she filled 
the pin cushion all over again, and made it as 
humpy as a map in a physical geography. 

^‘Nan, suppose we do something to lighten 
your gloom?” laughed Mrs. Brett. Suppose 
while we are so busy over the guest room we fit up 
that little room at the end of the hall for a guest 
room for your friends? If we made a sunny 
young girFs room out of it, it would be a sort of 
antidote to all these sofa cushion-easy-chair- 
maiden-auntish preparations! And we shall 
need it, for there wonT be a place for your 
friends if Aunt Ailsa has the guest room. ” 

“It would be gay,” said Nan promptly, “but 
as to needing it, you know mumsy, no one but 
Mona ever stays all night with me, and she would 
rather go right in with me. But it would be 
cheering to fix it up, if you want to do it. ” 
“Dins might ask a boy now and then,” said 
Mrs. Brett briskly. “IVe been thinking of 
looking up some of our young cousins in the west ; 
you ought to know one another. Then I really 
mean to try to give you a particularly pleasant 
winter this year, if the fact that your aunt is 
here makes your home less enjoyable to you.” 


18 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


^^What a good little thing you are, small 
mumsy!^^ cried Nan with compunction. I ^ess 
we^re Brett-pigs, or piggish Bretts all right! 
We Ve no business to take one aunt so hard, we 
make fuss enough for a whole hill of aunts com- 
ing. But it^s a compliment to you, if you look 
at it right; we don’t want our home invaded; 
it’s so nice as it is! But I’ll say one thing for 
you and Daddy Brett; I never saw you take our 
trouble so easily,” added Nan, with a return of 
the vague suspicion of something that she did 
not understand, a suspicion that she could 
neither verify nor vanish. 

^‘My dear little Nancy, I don’t want our 
happy life interfered with one bit more than you 
do, but I am hopeful that a sister of your Daddy 
Brett, even though half of her sisterhood is 
lopped off, may not be a kill-joy,” returned 
Mrs. Brett. 

^^Now about the little room. Suppose we 
try to make it all the younger looking room for 
our having added a few years to the big guest 
room, so to speak? I ’m going to paint the floor 
yellow — ^the border around the rug, I mean. 
And I ’m going to buy the prettiest white cotton 
rug with yellow figures that you ever met. I 
saw it down at Hammatt’s, just the right size 
for that room, eight by ten feet; that will give 
us a two foot border of paint all around. Then 
I shall buy a bird’s-eye maple dresser and dress- 
ing table, and a three-quarters brass bed ; you 
know the paper is yeUow and white, and per- 
fectly fresh. And we’ll get together a few good 


MISS AILSA BRETT 19 

photographs, and — oh, yes! That creamy cast 
of Luca della Robbia^s Annunciation! Why, 
Nanette, it will be a perfect sunbeam of a golden 
room for a young girl! 

Mrs. Brett had talked herself into a state of 
flushed, short-breathed enthusiasm, after her 
amiable fashion, rumbling her fly-away light 
hair as she talked. Nan flew at her and hugged 
her till she was still more breathless. You cun- 
ning little plump duckie-mumsy!^^ she cried. 

You look seven months, three weeks and five 
days younger than I am, this minute, and I ^m 
only just sliding up to fifteen, as you may have 
heard. Dins and I will paint the floor. Ifll 
run down town and get a color card of paints. 

have the paint, confessed Mrs. Brett. 
^^We ought to begin it to-night. I donT want 
the smell of turpentine around when your aunt 
Ailsa arrives.’^ 

Dins and Nan painted till bed time, and the 
next afternoon painted a second coat over what 
they had done the night before, with the result 
that the sunny little southern room at the head 
of the stairs beamed brightly around its edges 
in sunshine color. Hammatt’s delivered the 
white and gold rug, and it was the prettiest 
thing possible in its place, as anything is likely 
to be that is exactly in its right place. When 
the bird^s-eye maple furniture, flanked by the 
shining brass bed, came into the room to rest 
on that rug and yellow border, and when Mrs. 
Brett^s “few good photographs and the creamy 


20 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


cast” had been hung in their proper places, the 
room was a joy to enter. 

small, low white willow rocker, and one 
dark wood chair, black wood, oiled in dull finish, 
and a small dark table to bring out the white 
and yellow,” murmured Mrs. Brett, making 
a mental memorandum. ^^Nan, it really is 
the dearest room!” 

^^At least that!” echoed Nan. ^^I^m afraid 
the maiden aunt will want it instead of her own.” 

^^Well tell her that weVe fitted it up for 
possible young visitors,” said Mrs. Brett. 
Don^t you think that you ought to practise 
calling her Aunt Ailsa? She’ll be here by this 
time to-morrow.” 

Nan groaned, then covered it with a cough, 
having resolved to bear the trial more cheer- 
fully. 

‘'Aunt Ailsa, Aunt Ailsa, what is it ails her?” 
she chanted. “I can say it. You couldn’t 
forget and call her the maiden aunt, so you’d 
have to remember to say Aunt Ailsa.” 

“ I am sure I hope you always will, ” said Mr. 
Brett, entering unexpectedly. 

“We have such absurd habits of nicknaming 
in this family — ^like your calling your mother 
‘mumsy,’ and me ‘Daddy Brett,’ for instance, 
that I’m afraid you may strike your aunt as 
disrespectful. Do you think that you can 
promise me always to call your aunt Aunt 
Ailsa? ” 

“Well, father mine, what can be the matter 
with this visit anyw^ay?” cried Nan, with a 


MISS AILSA BRETT 


21 


kind of affectionate exasperation. course, 

111 call her that. What else could I call her? 
1^11 promise solemnly, honest true, black and 
blue, to call my dear maiden half aunt Aunt 
Ailsa. Does that make you feel easier?’^ 

Mr. Brett shook his head, with a look of deep 
despondency. ^^It does not, oh, it does not,” 
he sighed. ‘^That ever I should live to doubt 
my daughter’s promise! But my mind mis- 
gives me when I see you in imagination by my 
sister’s eyes, and realize what lax ways are 
ours.” 

Nan stared at him, frowning and laughing, 
can’t make you out. Daddy Brett. You look 
as though you meant it, but you can’t have 
changed all at once. Aunt Ailsa’s really coming, 
of course? It isn’t a huge joke and someone 
else coming to surprise us, is it?” she asked. 

^^Nan, my half sister. Miss Ailsa Brett will 
be here, in this house, to-morrow at this hour; 
I have already told you that this is the case,” 
said Mr. Brett. “And I cannot help knowing 
what a difference it will make to us all, and being 
anxious that you children should be more re- 
strained in your manners than you have ever 
been heretofore.” 

“You never would say before it would make 
any difference to have her here!” Nan cried, as 
Tilly tumbled up stairs and into the room head- 
long. “Someone must come and set the Gus- 
sette. She’s bothering in the kitchen and 
Amanda says she won’t have her there one more 
minute,” she gasped. It was the family habit 


22 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


to allude to anything done for the youngest 
member as setting the Gussette/^ 

“I’ll take her away and tell her a story; I’m 
tired anyway, ” said Mrs. Brett, hurrying away. 

Nan laughed. “Poor Daddy Brett! Our 
manners don’t seem restrained,” she said. 

“But it’s the queerest thing how Aunt Ailsa’s 
coming has affected you. I think there’s a 
trick somewhere floating around, but I can’t 
see into it — ^yet.” 

“To-morrow night the maiden aunt will be 
here,” remarked Tilly, with her mouth full of 
oyster crackers which she was rapidly admin- 
istering to herself, whole, not to make crumbs 
in the fresh little additional guest room. 
“Amanda told me she was going to make a peach 
^mer-rin-gay,’ and I thought I’d die! That’s 
for our maiden aunt’s dessert.” 

“I’m going to get out that doyley I began 
to outline for mumsy when I was twelve, ob- 
served Nan. “The linen is perfectly yellow and 
the work is perfectly black, but I’ve got to be 
doing some fancy work when our maiden aunt 
comes.” 

“I sha’n’t sleep to-night much, said Tilly. 
“I’m so stirred up over her.” With which she 
stuffed her last two crackers into her mouth and 
choked explosively, coughing crumbs on the 
new rug. 

“And you’ve got to sweep them up, Tilly- 
Pilly,” said Nan sternly. “Get the dust pan. 
Pill. There can’t be a crumb in a house that’s 
waiting for its maiden aunt to arrive.” 


CHAPTER II 

THE MAIDEN AUNT 

The Bretts were all up early the next morning, 
although Mr. Brett’s sister would not arrive 
until the middle of the afternoon. 

^^It’s our last day of freedom, so we got up 
early to whoop it up till train time,” explained 
Dinsmore, when his mother betrayed surprise 
at seeing him the first of her brood to enter the 
dining room at breakfast time. Waking Dins 
was ordinarily a task which the united efforts 
of the family could not accomplish in time for 
breakfast. 

But whooping it up” is a spontaneous pro- 
cess; it is difficult to have an uproarious good 
time merely by making up one ’s mind to it. One 
cannot order high spirits delivered at the door 
like alcohol. 

So the day which the young Bretts dismally 
regarded as their last free one dragged through 
without — as Tilly noticed — ^Hheir whooping it 
up one single whoop. ” 

Mr. Brett departed to meet his sister at two, 
immediately after luncheon, and this made her 
actually a living being to the young nephews and 
nieces; she had not been quite realized before. 

Mrs. Brett was so cheerful, so ready to twinkle 
and dimple into laughter that Nan, usually the 
merriest of girls, watched, with almost a sulky 


24 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


expression, her mother making Gussie spick and 
span to greet her relative. When the little 
Gussette was a model of fleckless white and 
outstanding ruffles, and had been bidden to 
amuse herself in the most unrumpling ways for 
the next hour, Nan reluctantly drew herself up 
out of the lounging position into which she had 
sunk in the big chair by the window of her 
mother^s room, and stretched her arms toward 
the ceiling. 

suppose I must go and adorn too,’’ she 
sighed. think I’ll put on my blue?” 

^^To harmonize with your mind?” laughed 
her mother. ‘‘But it doesn’t, not a bit. You 
look prettier and blither in that than in most 
little gowns, which is a better reason for wearing 
it, after all. Yes, honey, put on your blue, 
and do arrange your hair the way I like to see 
it. ” 

“Do you want the maiden aunt to think your 
eldest daughter an ornament to the family?” 
asked Nan, with a smile more like her own. 
“I’ll fluff my hair, and cuff my sleeves, and 
stuff my — shoes! My pumps are a tiny bit 
tight ! And buff my finger nails, with the buffer, 
you know! And ruff my neck, and — are there 
any more double ffs? Oh, yes! Muff catching 
good looks after all, and huff my temper and 
bluff it all out when I meet Aunt Ailsa.” By 
the time she had reached the end of her string 
of nonsense Nan felt decidedly better and her 
eyes laughed again. 

“I don’t know that anyone pinned you down 


THE MAIDEN AUNT 


25 


to preparations in the key of double ff cried 
Mrs. Brett. “But run along, ninny Nanny O, 
and make yourself presentable. “ I may as well 
confess that I do want your Aunt Ailsa and you 
to be particularly good friends.’^ 

“Goodness me!’^ cried Nan. “Am I the sort 
of girl a maiden aunt would like?’’ She hurried 
off to her own room and her mother,* rearranging 
her hair before the mirror, watched the girl go, 
her flitting reflected in the glass of the dressing 
table, with a decided conviction that Nan was 
the kind of a girl almost anyone would like. 
For Nan was not only winsome, but decidedly 
pretty, with light hair like her mother’s, breaking 
everywhere into rings of curling ends, dark, 
laughing blue eyes under dark lashes, a flexible, 
warm mouth, a nice little nose and the kind 
of fair skin that tans a beautiful brown and looks 
the better for it. 

Three-quarters of an hour later the younger 
Bretts, with their mother, were assembled in 
the drawing room — ^if the Brett house could be 
correctly said to have a drawing room — ^in the 
pink of perfect order to receive the expected 
guest. 

Dins wore his best suit, a brown with a tie two 
shades lighter, and his hair was smooth and 
shining to the most improbable extent 5 he had 
permitted himself a geranium leaf with a sprig 
of mignonette and a hit of sweet alyssum, which 
still survived in the garden, to adorn his button- 
hole, and his collar left nothing to be desired — 
except ease for its wearer. Tilly always man- 


26 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


aged to look funny when she was in her best; 
she was so exceedingly thin and tall that her 
play clothes were more becoming to her than 
formal ones, but Tilly’s white duck middy 
blouse looked better on her to-day than more 
elaborate gowns did. Mrs. Brett had discovered 
that when she looked at Tilly it was usually to 
regret that she had not chosen ^'the other de- 
sign” which she had noticed in her fashion 
magazine as suitable for a girl of ten,” and 
that this happened no matter which one she had 
selected, and whichever dress happened to be in 
question. 

Jimmy was an attractive lad in his gray mixed 
tweed knickerbocker suit, with his light hair 
as slick as his elder brother’s. And Nan — ^well, 
Nan was certainly a pleasureable bit of girlhood 
to behold, in her Alice blue gown with black 
ribbons catching her soft braids behind each 
ear. 

^^And you look perfectly dear, mumsy,” said 
Nan, replying to her mother’s thoughts as she 
had a trick of doing, though it was not hard 
to see that Mrs. Brett was critically surveying 
her flock at that moment. 

Mr. Brett came in — alone! 

“Anything happened to her, father?” asked 
Dins hopefully. If only the maiden aunt had 
been detained at home at the last moment! 

“Not unless it has happened since I left her, ” 
said Mr. Brett. 

“Is she here? Did you leave her to come 
alone?” cried Mrs. Brett and Nan together. 


THE MAIDEN AUNT 


27 


got out at the corner and came on alone; 
I had an errand/’ said Mr. Brett vaguely. 
''Your Aunt Ailsa is driving, ought to be here 
now. I came up with her almost to the house. ” 

He glanced at his wife, and the children saw 
the glance; everybody understood that Mr. 
Brett, had, for some reason known to himself, 
wished to be at home when the dreaded maiden 
aunt arrived. Before Dins and Nan had time 
to marvel over this new form of Brett unexpect- 
edness, a carriage rolled up to the door and Mr. 
Brett, waving back his wife, went out to usher 
in its occupant. 

He returned in a moment and with him — 
Where was the maiden aunt? 

A tiny, dark girl, whose face looked as if she 
might be Nan’s age, but whose body relegated 
her to Tilly’s ten years, an elfin, pretty mis- 
chievous little creature in a dark blue traveling 
suit, stood beside Mr. Brett as he paused in the 
doorway. 

"I have no one to present to you but this 
small girl,” he said pensively. "The Aunt 
Ailsa you looked for did not come.” 

"Who is she?” cried Dins, staring as Jim and 
Tilly and even Gussie stared, while Mrs. Brett 
laughed, quite disregarding conventions. 

"Are you — ^is she — ” Nan could say no more. 

"Is she out in the carriage?” "Didn’t she 
come?” cried Jim and Gussie together. 

Tilly made a dash at the laughing little 
stranger. 

"'V^ere’s our Aunt Ailsa?” she demanded 


28 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


with unintentional fierceness, as if this small 
person were an ogre who might have maiden 
aunts packed away in her suit case. “Are you 
our cousin? I thought Aunt Ailsa wasn^t 
married. ” 

For an instant the girFs dark eyes and white 
teeth flashed in a laugh, then she drew herself 
up, pulled her face into stern gravity, and 
replied to them all at once: “My dear little 
nieces and nephews, I am your Aunt Ailsa. 

The five young Bretts gasped in an audible 
quinteette of amazement. Then Dins said, 
slowly and emphatically: “Well, what — do — 
you — ^know — about — ^that! 

“Aunt Ailsa^s severe dignity broke up into 
such twinkling, merry laughter that her face 
looked as if it were cut into myriads of little 
facets to catch the light, like a diamond. 

“I know all about it!” she cried. “Gus 
told me coming up from the station. ” 

“Gus!” She was no older than themselves 
and so tiny, yet she called their father Gus! 
The Bretts had to say to themselves hard: 
“Because she is father^s sister, Aunt Ailsa just 
the same. But they could not realize it. 

“I thought I^d die laughing,” “the maiden 
aunt” went on. “Gus said he^d never have 
thought of this lovely joke, but when you 
played it on yourselves he helped it out, he and 
Molly.” 

“Molly!” That was their mother. Little 
Gussie turned to look at her to see what effect 
this use of her name had upon her. 


THE MAIDEN AUNT 


29 


Isn’t it the best ever!” cried Ailsa, having 
paused to rummage for her handkerchief to 
wipe her brimming eyes. Wouldn ’t you imagine 
you’d have known I was Gus’ youngest half 
sister, so couldn’t be any older than you are? 
Children,” she added with one of her elfin rapid 
changes, resuming ^^her aunt voice,” as Tilly 
called it later, ^^come here and kiss your aunt. 
I am surprised at your lack of manners. ” 

With that Nan suddenly recovered herself 
and realized two things at once. First, that it 
might hurt this girl to discover that the Bretts 
knew really nothing about their father’s family. 
Nan was kindness itself, so this possibility pained 
her. Secondly, that it was a colossal piece of 
luck that had brought them, instead of the 
critical aunt they dreaded, a girl of their own 
age who would evidently be at least as ready 
for pranks as the young Bretts were. 

Moved by these two motives. Nan flew at 
Ailsa and hugged her breathlessly. ‘‘I never, 
never, never could be so surprised I ” she cried, not 
quite accurately, for she was, precisely ^^so 
surprised.” ^^But it’s gloriumphant! And you 
are a duck.” Ailsa hugged Nan equally em- 
phatically. Maybe we won’t have fun!” she 
murmured. Then Dins kissed Ailsa, after which 
Jimmy did not mind it so much, and Tilly made 
a dash at her that collided with Gussie’s on- 
slaught from the other direction, but Ailsa sorted 
them out and hugged them both. After which 
the six young people paused and scrutinized 
one another all over again, unable to keep hold 


30 THE LITTLE AUNT 

of the fact that this small girl was actually Miss 
Ailsa Brett. 

Mrs. Brett intervened. ‘^There^s a little 
lunch ready in the dining room, Ailsa. Come 
and drink a cup of chocolate and eat a lettuce 
sandwich, when Nan shall take you to your 
room.^^ 

I am hungry"; I usually am, ” said Ailsa, can- 
didly. She pulled off her gloves and her hat and 
coat with the quickness of motion that seemed to 
be characteristic of her and which, with her slen- 
der form, her bright, dark eyes, gave her a bird- 
like effect. She looked steadily at her sister-in-law 
for a moment, appraising her, then she smiled 
and put an arm around her with a confiding 
movement that was winning. 

I was afraid of you, ’’ she confessed, implying 
that the fear was quite over. ^^Of course I 
knew we young folks would get on all right, and 
Gus wouldn^t matter, because men are out so 
much. But if you didn^t like me — Ailsa 
broke off with a gesture expressive of tragedy. 

^^And now you^re sure that I shall like you?'^ 
laughed Mrs. Brett. 

“You like everybody that you can possibly 
like,’^ said Ailsa shrewdly. “Especially nice 
girls, I think, she added. “ I’m a terror, they 
say at home, but — well, youTl see! I’m not a 
sneak anyway. I was wondering and wondering 
all the way coming on here what I should call 
you. I never had seen Gus and it did seem 
pretty awful to have to call a strange man by 
his first name, right away. But he is my half 


THE MAIDEN AUNT 


31 


brother and I knew I had to. I practised on the 
train, kept sayng over and over: ^No fuss; say 
Gus!’ or: ^Don^t fuss, say Gus!’ It helped a 
lot. But you! I didn’t know what you’d 
want me to do. I knew you were Mary, 
and you know there are all kinds of Maries. 
Some get to be Mays, some Minnies — ^it's 
awful when they turn Maimies! — ^and some 
keep on being calm, beautiful Mary. And 
some — ^the nice, lovable, homey ones! — are 
Molhes. I asked Gus the first thing, and he 
said you were his dear little Molly, so then I 
knew! I felt a lot better. ” 

“Ailsa! What a chatterbox!” laughed Mr. 
Brett’s ^'dear little Molly,” pulling the girl’s 
travel-tossed hair. 

Ailsa stopped — ^they had moved toward the 
dining room — ^pretending to feel aggrieved. 
^‘Now you say that the very first thing!’! she 
cried. That ’s what they said at home ! What 
makes you say it too. Sister Molly? I was 
going to try calling Gus, Brother Augustus at 
first, but it sounded like a monk — and made me 
feel like a monkey!” 

‘'And yet nothing further from a person who 
would care about monkey tricks could be 
imagined than you are, Sister Ailsa,” observed 
Mr. Brett gravely. “ As to calling you a chatter- 
box, this is a world in which the best of us are 
misunderstood and often misrepresented.” 

No one had ever before known the Brett 
children to be so silent as they were now in the 
process of adjusting their minds to the strange 


32 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


outcome of this arrival and listening to Ailsa^s 
chatter, though the Bretts were famous for doing 
unexpected things, no one in the family had ever 
done anything so unexpected as this Ailsa Brett 
had done in being a young girl. There was 
something about her that her half brother’s 
children could not define. She was perfectly 
natural, unaffected, girlish, yet one felt that 
she was a little person accustomed to rely upon 
herself. Beneath her tiny form and elfin face 
there was something that seemed to declare 
force of character. She chattered like a wren 
as blithely and confidingly, yet there was 
nothing pert or impertinent in her readiness 
of tongue and wit. Friendly herself, she took 
for granted friendliness in these new-met rela- 
tives. Sweet Nan Brett, fully half a head taller 
than her contemporaneous aunt, and no more 
frolicsome, appeared younger in a way that was 
hard to define; it was really the quality of 
little girlhood that clings long to a girl who de- 
pends upon her mother for guidance. Ailsa’s 
brother and his wife saw that, whether for good or 
ill, Ailsa’s infiuence would be strong over Nan, 
that their own girl would play a continuous game 
of ^‘Follow-my-leader” in the wake of her 
lively little half aunt. 

‘^Oh, how good it looks, how good!” cried 
Ailsa fervently, at the first glimpse ot the dining 
room with one end of the table spread with a 
hemstitched carving cloth and set with choco- 
late cups, delicate plates and sparkling glass. 

^‘We couldn’t put anything to eat on the 


THE MAIDEN AUNT 


33 


table till we were going to be here ourselves/^ 
explained Tilly, “on ’count of Funny and 
Middy.” 

“ Sounds like home, ” commented Ailsa. “We 
never can set a table and leave it, either. Cats?” 

“Yes,” Jimmy eagerly took up the theme. 
“Do you love ’em? Funny’s all mixed up, 
black and yellow, funniest looking cat you ever 
saw. Middy’s her little brother, but he’s three 
years younger. He’s all yellow, golden, you 
know; that’s why his name is Midas, see?” 

“I see! The golden touch. And he’d jump 
up and give the food a golden touch if you left 
him in the room with it? That ’s just like home ; 
we’ve several cats — ^more than that! Of course 
I love them. Hallo, who’s this?” added Ailsa. 

“That’s Peggy!” shouted Gussie triumph- 
antly. “That’s our darling Peggy.” 

“She’s yellow, too, and round,” said Ailsa. 
“What a dear, dear little face! She rolls her 
eyes like a piccaninny. Oh, look at her! You 
darling!” 

For Jimmy had picked up the small dog, a 
smooth haired, yellow little creature, with a 
kinky tail carried to one side over a particularly 
plump little body, and a sensitive, intelligent 
little face, and was holding her up while the 
small dog wildly waved her fore paws, prayer- 
fully. 

“If you want cakey ask for it, Peggy,” 
Jimmy was saying. “Want some cakey-cake?” 
Peggy whined and barked and waved her paws 
harder than ever, while Jimmy went on to ex- 


34 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


plain: “Everything that Peggy has must be 
spoken that way. She gets a dinky-dink when 
she’s thirsty, and she has a coatie-coat that 
she wears out doors when it’s cold, and she 
sleeps on a cushy-cush in her nes’y-nest — ^that’s 
a box fixed up behind the stove, you know. And 
she goes walky-walk, and plays with her bally- 
ball and — ^lots of things like that. We don’t 
know why, but you’ve got to say everything 
that way about Peggy’s things. Oh yes; she 
has dog biscuits, and those are her bicky-bicks, 
and she’s Peggy-Peg, or else Piggy-Peg, her- 
self.” 

“I’m so glad you’re silly kids,” approved 
Ailsa. “If I’d found you didn’t like nonsense 
it would have been just as hard for me as it 
would have been for you if I ’d been the maiden 
aunt you thought I was. Isn’t she the dearest 
duck of a pupums!” 

“Wait till you know her,” said Dins, who 
had been perfectly silent throughout this intro- 
ductory haK hour. 

Gussie went up and whispered in Ailsa’s ear, 
so that Peggy should not hear : ^ ^ Ask her where 
Gyppie Besecker is.” 

“Where’s Gyppie Besecker, Peggy? where’s 
Gyp?” obediently repeated Ailsa. 

In an instant Peggy had wriggled out of Jim- 
my’s arms and was careering around the window, 
jumping up and down in a vain effort to look 
out, her brows knitted, one ear up and one down, 
barking so shrilly that Ailsa covered her ears. 

“That’s a little rabbit hound down the road. 


THE MAIDEN AUNT 


35 


Peggy's perfectly crazy about her," explained 
Jimmy. ''When we want her to sit for her 
picture the only way we can get her brightened 
up, and not to look as if she was being murdered 
is to ask her about Gyppie. Never mind, Peggy. 
Gyppie's gone now. " 

Nan and Tilly had by this time brought in 
the steaming chocolate pot, a plate piled high 
with sandwiches and a plate of small cakes, while 
Peggy, frantic at the sight of lunch at this un- 
likely hour, sat up on her hind legs, praying 
with her fore paws pathetically, though no one 
paid any attention to her. 

"I'm the hungriest girl in the world," sighed 
Ailsa, rolling up her eyes much after Peggy's 
fashion, at the first bite of Mrs. Brett's delicious 
thin lettuce sandwich. "I don't mind being 
hungry to-day, because I ' ve been traveling, but 
my appetite mortifies me when there's no excuse 
for it." 

"I thought growing was excuse enough," 
remarked Dins, helping himseK to a sandwich 
and eating it in two bites. 

"Bub you see I haven't grown much, not 
nearly enough to match all I eat," said Ailsa. 

"May I offer you a cup of chocolate. Aunt 
Ailsa?" asked Nan demurely. 

Ailsa stiffened at once. "Thank you, Anne, 
I usually drink green tea, but you may pour 
me a cup of chocolate, since I see no tea pre- 
pared for me," she said. Then both girls 
laughed till they choked and cried over this bit 


36 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


of humor, and, by the time they had recovered 
their breath felt far better acquainted. 

promised Daddy Brett I’d call you Aunt 
Ailsa, so I ’ve got to do it unless he lets me off, ” 
explained Nan. couldn’t imagine why he 
was so careful to make me promise 5 I didn’t 
see what else I could call you * I see now. ” 

Augustus,” said Ailsa, turning her dancing 
eyes, but a sober face to her brother, prefer 
that the children should address me simply by 
my Christian name. I am accustomed to chil- 
dren who treat me almost as one of themselves, 
and I prefer that your young folks should do so. 
Please allow Anne to call me simply Ailsa. As 
long as she does not mean it disrespectfully I 
shall not be offended. When I choose to exert 
my auntly authority I shall of course, insist on 
her respecting it.” 

Ailsa delivered this dignified speech with such 
an air, her cheeks scarlet from repressed laughter, 
her dark eyes fairly snapping, but her lips pursed 
into a real papa-potatoes-prunes-prisms ’’shape, 
that the rest of the Bretts shouted, especially 
when at its close, she looked toward the door 
that led to the pantry and winked, a big, delib- 
erate, scampish wink that was in sharp contrast 
to her assumed dignity. 

^^Oh, say, you’re a peacherino, all right!” 
cried Dins fervently, coming up breathless from 
a header into the pillows piled in the window 
seat. ^^What made you wink at the door that 
way, auntie?” 

/^Couldn’t help it,” sighed Ailsa, helping 


THE MAIDEN AUNT 


37 


her self carefully to a pink iced small cake. 

There was an eye at the crack looking at me 
and it really had to be winked at. It wasnT 
anything else but an eye, a large dark eye. It 
had to be winked at,^^ she repeated. 

This added the final touch to the young 
Brett^s joy. They doubled up and shrieked 
with laughter, in which Mr. and Mrs. Brett 
joined. Ailsa laughed sympathetically, but, as 
she said, ^^was outside the joke.’’ 

^^It was — ^it was Amanda!” gasped Nan at 
last. “She couldn’t wait to see you, so she 
went into the pantry and peeped through the 
crack of the door.” 

“Cook?” asked Ailsa. 

Nan nodded. “Our good, good, funny, big 
black Amanda. She’s everything, cook and 
all,” she explained. “She’s just as useful, if 
not more so, as one of those knives that have 
several blades and a corkscrew and other tools 
in it. She’s interested in us more than she is 
in herself, she’s the best old soul on earth. 
She couldn’t wait to see our Aunt Ailsa. I 
forgot to tell her you were only a girl. ” 

“ Don ’t you think I ought to go out and speak 
to her?” suggested Ailsa. “If she is so fond of 
you all, she’d like it if I went out to her right 
away, wouldn’t she?” 

Mrs. Brett gave her little sister-in-law a look 
of warm approval. “That’s a fine thoughtful- 
ness, Ailsa,” she said heartily. “There’s more 
than madcap mischief under that curly dark 
head of yours! Amanda will appreciate your 


38 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


taking the trouble to make her acquaintance, 
and she deserves consideration. That is the 
sort of good breeding that is not acquired, but 
is innate, my dear. ’’ 

Ailsa looked up, surprised. Anybody would 
be decent to a loving old servant, wouldnT 
they?” she said. 

^^Run along, little sister; Nan, take Ailsa 
out to the kitchen, ” said Mrs. Brett, not replying 
more directly, except with another warm smile. 

Nan led the way and Ailsa followed her into 
the big, clean kitchen where Amanda, as black 
as her shining range, sat fanning herself with 
her apron. 

‘'This is father’s sister, Ailsa, Amanda,” 
said Nan. 

Amanda got upon her carpet-slippered feet 
and bowed, rolling up her eyes till only the 
whites showed. 

“How come you-all thought she was full 
growed an’ kinder sharp and pickley? ” demanded 
Amanda. “She’s no bigger ’n a red squirrel, 
an’ mighty like him in her looks. ” 

“Daddy Brett and mumsy knew, of course, 
but they let us keep on dreading her, it was such 
a joke,” said Nan. 

“Well, laws-a-mussy, Nanny, I sh’d say ’twas 
a joke!” cried Amanda, beginning to roll with 
inward laughter. “When I peeked at her, an’ 
she wunk at me, jest like you-all limbs o’ mis- 
chief, I’clare I frought I’d tumble right down a 
crack in de flo’, I was dat hit-in-a-heep! W’’ell, 
Miss Ailsa^ honey, I ’se proud to know you, an, 


THE MAIDEN AUNT 


39 


I hopes you^re jes’ as good-for-nothin’ as these 
Brett lambs o' mine, yere." With which 
Amanda wiped her right hand carefully on her 
checked gingham apron, and tardily gave it to 
Ailsa in greeting. 

Ailsa shook it heartily. ‘‘ I glad to see you, 
Amanda, " she said, '^and if I know how to read 
people, we young Bretts are all out out of one 
piece." 

^‘It isn't spelled p-e-a-c-e either, Ailsa," said 
Nan. ^^To think, Amanda, only to think that 
this little lively, snip of a girl is the maiden aunt 
we were all dreading!" 

/^Sho', Nan; go 'long!" cried Amanda in 
huge delight. ^'More maiden dan she is aunt, 
I reckon!" 

^‘That's just it!" cried Nan, as she and Ailsa 
turned away. All girl and no aunt about her! 
Isn't it perfectly splendiscrumptious, glori- 
mellifluous!" 

^^Wait till I'm rested. Nan, and I'll make a 
bigger one ! " cried Ailsa. And they left Amanda 
roUing her eyes and rocking her portly frame in 
soundless mirth over their nonsense. 


CHAPTER III 

UNPACKING— MINDS AND TRUNKS 

''Now, Nan,” said Mrs. Brett, as the girls 
came back to the dining room, "I think you’d 
better take Ailsa to her room. Jimmy saw the 
delivery wagon with her trunk around the corner, 
so it will be here shortly. And you know, Nan, 
that there ’s no reason for insisting on Ailsa’s 
taking the big guest room if, by any chance, 
she should happen to prefer the little yellow and 
white room that we tried to make attractive to 
a possible girl visitor. ” 

" Mumsy ! ” cried Nan, stopping short. " How 
perfectly stupid I was! I might have known. 
Why in the world didn ’t I guess you were getting 
that ready for Ailsa? But to think of all the 
trouble you took with the big room, to carry 
out the trick!” 

“We never think anything is too much 
trouble to carry out a good joke, we of this 
branch of the Bretts, Ailsa,” explained Mrs. 
Brett. “However, I am really glad to feel that 
• the guest room is in order for the winter. Show 
Ailsa both rooms. Nan. It doesn’t matter to 
me which you choose, Ailie.” 

Ailsa hugged her sister-in-law briefly, but 
thoroughly. “ If Ponce de Leon had ever found 
you!” she cried. “You’re a regular fountain 
of youth. I don’t believe anything matters 















<^V 


“Atlsa, It’s 


Perfectly Glorious to Have You Here!” 


(The Little Aunt) 


(Page 44) 















» • • 


t 


f 


4 





I 

■ • 


*ii* « 


I . 

•• 


% 


4 


i 






4 


«« 


MINDS AND TRUNKS 


41 


to you, as long as the children have a good time/’ 
And are good, ” confessed Mrs. Brett. I ’m 
afraid my neighbors think I’m shockingly lax. 
But all their children swarm here, and it’s my 
ambition to make a home that other children 
will come to and that my own children will stay 
in, so I ’m afraid I shall never improve along the 
lines of strict housekeeping. ” 

Ailsa gave her a look that her sister-in-law 
could not construe. think I see a light. I 
saw it almost at once, about as big as a candle; 
now it’s getting to be a regular headlight,” 
she said. 

Then she followed Nan, who had preceded 
her toward the stairs. 

^^Now this is the regular guest room,” Nan 
explained, throwing open the door. ‘‘It’s more 
than twice as big as the other room and ten 
times more guestroomified; more polite and 
formal, you know. Take it all in, and then I’ll 
show you the little room. ” 

“I’ve taken,” said Ailsa. “It’s a fine room, 
much nicer than I need. Where’s the little 
one?” 

“On the other side of the house, close to the 
stairs,” said Nan, crossing the hall. “One 
reason I like it is that it’s south and sunny.” 

She threw open the door of the little room and 
fell back to let Ailsa see it; plainly Nan con- 
sidered it worth seeing. 

Ailsa exclaimed rapturously : “ I never, never 
saw such a darling room! It looks like a sun 
without any spot on it. It’s so dear and happy 


42 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


looking, as if it could sing. So pure white and 
bright gold! Like a lovely big field daisy, or a 
canary bird. May I have this room, really. 
Nan? I should think you^d take it. Isn^t 
that white and yellow rug the dearest thing with 
the bird’s-eye maple furniture and the brass 
bed! And just enough of that oiled black wood 
to set if off!” 

“That’s mumsy, Ailsa,” cried Nan, delighted 
at this enthusiasm. “ She always knows just the 
touch to give. Of course, you may take this 
room. I know now that she got it ready for 
you, and all the while we thought the formal big 
room was for our formal big aunt!” 

Ailsa crossed the white and yellow rug in 
little skips, depositing her hat and coat, which 
she carried on a chair. Then she dropped into 
the white willow rocker with a deep breath of 
satisfaction, resting her arms on the window 
sill. 

“It’s so homey,” she said, “and so golden! 
I shall feel exactly like Cinderella in her golden 
pumpkin chariot when I’m in this room. 
There’s my trunk coming in.” 

“It will come up here; someone will tell it 
to,” laughed Nan. 

“No expressman is going to set his dusty 
soles on this rug!” cried Ailsa. “Mayn’t he 
put the trunk outside the door? And then we’ll 
have everything out of it in a jiffy and the boys 
and I can put it wherever you want it.” 

“Of course. We wouldn’t let you have the 
trunk in this room; too crowded. It’s coming 


MINDS AND TRUNKS 43 

up on the man’s back this minute; I hear one 
of them bumping and grunting, ” said Nan. 

That’s the trunk,” rejoined Ailsa gravely. 
‘^It’s an unbreakable bump grunt trunk.” 

And the expressman found the two girls col- 
lapsed with laughter over the sound of these 
last four words, spoken gruffly, with emphasis 
on the final letters. 

^^Now,” began Ailsa, when the amiable red- 
faced giant of a truckman had withdrawn, 
grinning sympathetically, ‘^now for the fun of 
unpacking! I think it’s wonderful how in- 
teresting even one’s wash rag gets to be when 
one fishes it out of a trunk after a few hour’s 
separation from it.” 

^‘Do you always say ^one’ and ^one’s’ instead 
of Vou’ and fours’?” asked Nan. 

certainly do not!” cried Ailsa. “I hap- 
pened to remember then and hoped you’d be 
impressed. But I’ll tell the truth, though I 
lose my little niece’s respect.” 

You wouldn’t get any too much respect from 
your little niece by fibbing,” laughed Nan. 
“Let’s take that whole upper tray out and set 
it on the bed. ” 

“Just as you say,” sighed Ailsa, with her 
twinkle, though her voice was pensive. 

“I did think of chopping up the tray, but 
we’ll take it out whole, if you like.” 

Whereupon Nan boxed Ailsa’s ears as she 
knelt before the trunk. Then they carried the 
tray into the room and came back to rifle the 
trunk further. 


44 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


It was not long before it was emptied to the 
bottom and all that had been in it overflowed 
the yellow and white room in bewildering, but 
attractive confusion. 

‘^You have lots of drawer room, really, said 
Nan. ‘'There are three long drawers in the 
closet, under the shelves, that maple chiffonniere 
behind the door and two drawers in this princess 
dresser. And this closet has lots of hanging 
room.’' 

“Mercy, I don’t need all I have!” cried Ailsa. 
My things look like a great deal more than 
they are because they are tossed around and are 
billowly. We’ll sort them first, while we talk, 
and then put away all at once. ” 

They sorted Ailsa’s belongings rapidly. Nan 
in a state of delight too deep for words as she 
realized that this atmosphere of girlish intimacy 
had come into her home to stay for a long time. 
At last Nan sat erect on the floor beside the 
bed from beneath which she had emerged with 
a pair of stockings that had rolled under it as 
far as they could go. 

“Ailsa, it’s perfectly glorious to have you 
here!” she cried, suddenly voicing her feeling. 
“I didn’t know we lacked one thing to complete 
this house, but we did — a sister my own age! 
Dins can’t be chummy like a girl, and Tilly- 
Pilly is only ten. I ’m just beginning to take in 
what a piece of luck this is!” 

“Nice way to take it,” cried Ailsa, nodding 
hard. |“I didn’t much want to come, if I may 


MINDS AND TRUNKS 45 

speak right out, now I know what a regular 
honey pot I Ve dropped into. 

“What made you come?’' asked Nan bluntly. 
“ That sounds queer, but I 've been wondering. 
You see it isn’t as though we had been knowing 
one another, we two parts of the family. Fa- 
ther — don’t believe I could say, if you asked 
me, how many brothers and sisters father has.” 

“You were going to say that your father 
never talked about us, ” said Ailsa. “He didn’t 
know us. You know when my father — ^your 
grandfather — ^married again his two oldest chil- 
dren left home. I’m the youngest of six more 
children. The other two girls are grown up 
and gone, have been for a good while. And one 
of my brothers is married; one is in Colorado, 
the other is at home. ” 

“How old are you? I meant to ask before,” 
said Nan. 

“I was fifteen on Memorial Day,” replied 
Ailsa. 

“And I shall be fifteen on Thanksgiving Day!” 
cried Nan. “Just half a year between us. 
Only my birthday does not always fall on a 
holiday, like yours. Ailsa, what perfectly beau- 
tiful embroidery and inserting and trimmings 
you have on your things 1 Do you make them?” 

“No; my mother does — made some of 
them. Mother likes beautiful handwork,” said 
Ailsa, smiling at Nan’s forgetting the subject 
in hand at the vision of the gown which Ailsa 
was refolding. 

“How can she get time? A widow, too, for 


46 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


so many vears/^ sighed Nan. “I’d love fassy, 
beautifully fussy, nightgowns like that, but I 
couldn’t make one to save me, and mumsy 
doesn’t get time to mend us all up; she’d never 
get time for all that. I have nice, fine little 
gowns, all alike, gathered with a ribbon at the 
top and pretty decent lace ruffles at the neck 
and wrist, but never a smidge of embroidery.” 

Ailsa’s merry face clouded. “It’s not easy 
to tell you. Nan, but I may as well try,” she 
said. “Your mother doesn’t get time to make 
fussy clothes for you, but she has time to join 
in all your fun and help you out in whatever 
you’re doing, boys as well as you girls — doesn’t 
she?” 

Nan nodded hard. “I could see that,” 
Ailsa continued, “and all this fixing up two 
rooms, and keeping up the joke that I was a 
stiff old maiden aunt coming, shows how she’s 
just one with you. She’s the dearest thing 
ever! Well, it’s the other way about in our 
house. Mother likes to see me well dressed, 
she embroiders a great deal and she reads a lot, 
she belongs to several clubs, bridge clubs and 
civic improvement things, and an amateur 
theatrical club, and she’s president of the 
women’s suffrage club at home, and of course, 
anyone who is in all this has a good deal of 
entertaining to do and being entertained. But 
my mother never played with me in her life. 
I’d never think of bothering her with my little 
good-and-bad times. She has too many irons 
in the fire to iron out my wrinkles, if ever I’m 


MINDS AND TRUNKS 


47 


crumpled up — ^which isn’t often. So you need- 
n’t envy me my pretty underclothes, though 
I know they’re quite nifty for a girl my age, 
Ailsa laughed, but added seriously : ^ T ’d rather 
have one day of a chummy, intimate mother 
like yours, than all the clothes in the world — 
who wouldn’t? I’m not whining; I’m as jolly 
a girl as you ever saw, but I’m simply telling 
you. I don’t feel particularly well acquainted 
with my mother. I suppose there must be 
different ways of being a mother, for so many 
different kinds of women are mothers. If 
you ’re mothering all sorts of outside committees 
and things you can ’t possibly have so much time 
to give one inside little girl. There’s a splendid 
big woman at home, kind of a mixture of a 
housekeeper and a nurse, Deborah Hopewell is 
her name, who has looked after me and the 
brother next older. She looks like one of those 
Rebecca-at-the-well teapots — short and thick set 
and brown — ^but she’s all right! I always hunt 
her up when I’ve any kind of ache, body or 
mind. Debby’s good and she always gives me 
good advice, but of course, she had no authority 
to make me mind. So that ’s why I ’m so bad, ” 
Ailsa ended with a chuckle. 

^^Are you bad, Ailsa? I don’t believe you 
are, ” cried Nan, who had been listening, breath- 
less, to this explanation of the state of things in 
Ailsa’s home, a state inconceivable to her whose 
mother had always been the sum of her children’s 
existence, their comrade, adoration, supreme 
resource and comforter. 


48 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


‘^That^s for you to find out/’ nodded Ailsa. 
decidedly not a model child.” 

A model child would be worse to have in the 
house than a maiden aunt,” cried Nan. '^I’m 
. beginning to understand what it is that makes 
you seem older than I, though you are so little 
and lively; you’ve been left to yourself more. 
I’m sorry — ” Nan caught herself up, remem- 
bering that it would not do to tell Ailsa she 
was sorry that her mother was so unmotherly. 
Instead she asked: ‘^You were going to tell 
me why you came here this winter, weren’t 
you?” 

^^Only October,” corrected Ailsa. ^‘Yes, I 
was. I can ’t tell you precisely, though. There’^ 
some sort of trouble; it’s about money. Did 
you know my father made your father my 
guardian?” 

“No, indeed!” Nan shook her head vio- 
lently. “I wasn’t five when he died.” 

“No, for I was only just five,” said Ailsa. 
“He appointed 'my eldest son, Augustus Brett, 
guardian over my daughter Ailsa,’ that’s what 
his will said. And once a year my mother had 
to send her accounts to your father.” 

“It’s just like him not to speak of it. He’s 
as full of fun as he can be, but we children 
never hear him speak of business, especially 
if anyone else is mixed up in it,” said Nan. 

“There’s something mixed up in this busi- 
ness, now,” Ailsa said. “I don’t know what 
it is, but there’s some sort of trouble. Mother 
was quite angry, and she always is angry if 


MINDS AND TRUNKS 


49 


anyone thinks she is mistaken. All I know 
is that she told me that I must go to spend the 
winter with my brother Augustus, and ^make 
the best of it\ So here I am. I ^m afraid there 
won't be any worst to make of it; it will all be 
best and make itself without any help from 
me." 

Nan jumped up at this and executed a few 
steps of the sailors' hornpipe. 

“So you are to spend the winter!" she cried. 
I've been wondering about that. I'm going to 
send for Mona to-night to start you getting 
acquainted. Mona Chapman, that is; she's 
my best friend. How about boys, Ailsa? Do 
you like boys?" 

Ailsa laughed. “I like them when they're 
the right sort," she said. “I'm proud to say 
I can have as good a time without them as I can 
with them, when there's a lively crowd of 
nice girls. All girls like to have the boys admire 
them, if they will own up, so I own up to it, 
here and now. But I'd hate to be the sort 
of girl that will put herself out to any extent to 
be noticed by any boy! It's my opinion that 
a boy ought to be honored when a girl notices 
him. Dinsmore must bring lots of boys here. 
Do we have to begin to-night, Nannie?" 

“Well, I'd like to have Mona and you meet 
just as soon as we can manage it," Nan said. 

She's the dearest thing! I'm so glad and 
thankful you won't always want boys! Dins 
does bring them here in shoals — ^but some of 
them are my friends, too." Ailsa laughed and 


50 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Nan went on, blushing: ^^But I feel just as you 
do about it. I know a girl here who can’t rest 
till she gets acquainted with every single boy 
that comes along, no matter how stupid he is, 
or how bad his manners are. The worst of it is 
that the boys know it and laugh at her. I hate 
to have a girl make the boys laugh at her, don’t 
you?” 

^^Of course; it makes me furious to see a girl 
silly,” agreed Ailsa. ^^Nan, is my brother Gus 
rich?” 

“No, but we don’t really know it,” laughed 
Nan. “Daddy Brett has a good income, but 
that isn ’ t riches. W e have plenty, though. All 
the clothes we need and money to spend for 
pleasure. We keep only Amanda, but mumsy 
does a great deal around the house and I’m 
beginning to help more than I did. Tilly is use- 
ful, considering she’s so thin and only ten, and 
such a terror. We call her The Pill.’ It’s 
partly because her middle name is Pillsbury, 
but it ’s mostly because that ’s what she is. My 
two Brett parents seem to give away a lot. I 
often wonder how they manage it. You’ll love 
your brother and sister, Ailsa; it isn’t because 
they belong to me, but I honestly believe there 
isn’t anyone else in all the United States equal 
to them. But we’re not rich, certainly not. 
Not rich, but we get almost everything we v ant, 
and it ’s all paid for; maybe we are a little rich. ” 

Ailsa laughed at these conflicting statements. 
“The reason I asked is that I am not going to 
be a bother here, if I can help it. I don’t know 


MINDS AND TRUNKS 


51 


much about being useful. Mother took an 
apartment two years ago and we have two maids, 
so there isn ^t anything for me to do. This house 
looks so roomy and real after an apartment! 
Our rooms all run along the street, so they are 
light, but — I suppose it^s foolish, but it never 
seems like a real home. I have a string of gold 
beads and the apartment looks just like them! 
^^It^s so trying not to be able to tell one^s neck- 
lace and one’s home apart.” 

^^Ailsa! You ridiculous girl!” laughed Nan. 
But inexperienced though she was. Nan began 
to see that real loneliness and well-founded 
dissatisfaction underlay Ailsa’s chatter, that 
her lively brain held other thoughts than mis- 
chievous nonsense, and she vaguely wondered if 
her coming to her brother’s might not bring forth 
good to ‘Hhe maiden aunt.” 

^^In crowded cities people have to live in 
apartments, but they’re not needed in small 
places. Where are my other nieces and my 
nephews?” Ailsa demanded. should think 
Tilly and Gussie would be up here; little girls 
love to rummage.” 

Mamma is probably keeping them away, so 
we can get acquainted easier,” said Nan. 
We’re well enough acquainted now to let them 
come; I’ll call them, if you like.” 

^‘Imagine her thinking of that!” cried Ailsa 
admiringly. ^‘Nan, I’m going to fall head over 
heels in love with my sister Molly!” 

^'You’ll be crazy about her, said Nan posi- 
tively. 


52 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


must find something to call her/’ Ailsa 
went on. Ve got to call her something inti- 
mate, like a sister, yet Molly sounds a little too 
free, especially as you are my age and her daugh- 
ter, and we’re right here together. I wish I 
knew the exactly-right word!” 

We call her lots of names, all meaning that 
she’s the dearest thing! Whatever you called 
her would mean that, after you knew her,” 
added Nan wisely, ^‘as long as the word stood 
for her, because that’s what she is.” Nan 
opened the door. ^^Brettlettes! Tilly, Gussie, 
boys, want to come up here? ” she called. Oh, 
I might have known!” she added as Tilly and 
Gussie arose from the fourth step down, having 
been sitting on the stairs patiently awaiting 
this summons. 

‘■Mamma said we must not make a sound,” 
explained Gussie. “ She said Tilly and I mustn’t 
bother Ailsa. But we wanted awful much to 
come. ” 

“Mamma thought Ailsa ought to get to know 
you first,” added Tilly, “but I thought we’d 
have helped you make her at home. But mam- 
ma said not. And now you ’ve got all her things 
put away, pretty much!” 

“Here are things Nan hasn’t seen, Tilly,” 
said Ailsa. “This box is yours and this is 
Gussie’s, and this one is Nan’s, the smallest 
though she is the biggest girl. ” 

Nan beamed her gratitude as she slipped a 
moonstone curiously set in a ring upon her finger. 
“ It ’s just like yours ! I noticed yours and loved 


MINDS AND TRUNKS 53 

it the minute you took your glove off down- 
stairs!’^ she cried rapturously. 

Little Gussie was crimson with inarticulate 
joy over a tiny locket and chain. Tilly pranced 
and shook her hand to display the slender bangle 
that was her gift. Funny Tilly was never as 
awkward as when she was exuberantly happy; 
her long limbs never seemed to harmonize with 
her emotions. 

Mrs. Brett came running up the stairs, out 
of breath, beaming. hear happiness!” she 
cried as she came. What ’s going on, chickens? 
I hope you are comfortably bestowed, Ailie?” 

^‘She is comfortably bestowing, mumsy!” 
cried Nan. ‘^Do see what she has brought us! ” 
Ailsa arose to offer her sister-in-law the rocker 
by the window with a look half shy, wholly 
appealing and affectionate. 

“I’m a good deal more than comfortable. 
I never saw a room before that the sunshine 
shone out of, instead of into it. It’s such a 
happy, golden room! I wonder whether I’m 
ever going to be able to thank you, for every- 
thing, Molly-Mary?” 

The little pet name came unsought; Ailsa 
never called this new sister anything else. Mrs. 
Brett accepted the name and the thanks with one 
of her hearty laughs and a delighted look that 
her efforts to make her guest happy had so well 
succeeded. But she was a little woman ail 
compact of quick intuitions, born of her waim 
heart, her eagerness to bestow happiness. She 
felt something in Ailsa beyond her present 


54 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


knowledge of the girl and instantly went out to 
it. She put one arm about this new little sister 
and hugged her heartily. 

Nothing to thank me for, Ailsie child,’’ she 
said. This is a happy household; just you be 
part of its happiness, getting and giving, and 
that’s all I ask — except a wee bit of love for us 
who are going to be so fond of you!” 

I guess I shall pay my toll that way, if that’s 
all!” said Ailsa fervently. 

Mona Chapman did not come that evening to 
meet Ailsa after all. Mrs. Brett suggested a first 
evening entirely Bretts,” and Dinsmore ably 
seconded her motion. Seats in the family circle 
for me this first night, ” he said, and they saw 
that Ailsa had no desire to extend her new 
acquaintanceship yet beyond the family. 

She proved to be a remarkable little pianist, 
playing with a skill and intelligence beyond her 
years. Nan played prettily, but Ailsa played 
with little less than genius. On the other hand. 
Nan surpassed her in singing for Nan’s sweet, 
contralto voice and quick ear was a rare gift. 

see our winter!” cried Dins, who really 
loved music. Ailsa playing the piano, me 
getting up the violin, Jimmy blowing something 
decent out of that octoroon of his — carina, or 
whatever it is; that potatoish thing. Ham 
Gravy will come over with his cornet — ^the 
fellow’s name is Hamilton Graves, Ailsa, but 
of course we chaps can’t lose such a chance as 
that name gives us! Giddy ’ll be sure to get 
out his concertina — ^that boy’s name is Gideon 


MINDS AND TRUNKS 


55 


Davis; naturally we prefer Giddy for him, 
Aunt Ailsa. Dad can play the flute like Orpheus 
or Pan, or whoever was the best piper in that 
old Greek pipe dream, if he will take the trouble. 
Nan will sing the solos. Say, honest, no joking, 
wefll have music on the half shell this winter 

“And I can do fancy dancing,^’ cried Ailsa. 
“We ^11 find a charity for an excuse, and get up 
a Christmas entertainment. 

“That’s talking!” cried Dins in high delight. 
“Nothing slow about you. First time I ever 
understood why we are told to 'go to the ant, 
thou sluggard.’ Aunt Ailsa ’d galvanize any 
old sluggard. ” 

Ailsa was not the Ailsa of the afternoon, alone 
with Nan. There was no vestige of her having 
had in all her short life a serious thought, much 
less a lonely moment. Her face was flashing 
with fun and high spirits, her eyes were so bright 
that nobody could have been sure what was 
their color. Her cheeks burned a bright crimson, 
her whole lithe, httle body was quivering with 
movement as she chattered. The young Bretts 
watched her, entranced and wondering, the 
older Bretts found her no less interesting. 

Mrs. Brett had a habit of paying Nan a short 
visit every night after she was tucked away in 
bed, when mother and daughter exchanged con- 
fidences and talked over the day’s experiences. 
Nan shared every thought with her mother; 
the love between them was close and intimate. 

To-night when the mother came and seated 
herself on the edge of Nan’s bed. Nan repeated 


56 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


to her all that Ailsa had said in the afternoon. 

^^She seemed gay enough to-night, but I 
almost thought that she was not quite happy, 
Nan ended. 

She is a little dynamo of high spirits,’’ said 
Mrs. Brett. Those people hide their heavy- 
hearted moments; for that matter they can’t 
stay heavy-hearted long. What you tell me 
makes the little aunt more interesting. She is 
extraordinarily clever and pretty. I imagine 
we shall find her making a great difference in 
our household. And I imagine there is a great 
deal more in her than shows on the surface. 
I must make her love me. I wonder if she would 
let me visit her, as I do you, at bedtime? It is 
such a cozy time to talk!” 

^^Oh, mumsy, I’m not going to be mean or 
jealous, but — don’t cut off any of my dear time 
with you!” cried Nan. ‘^And Ailsa adores you 
already. ” 

^^I’ll manage not to lose any of our dusky 
hour, Nanny; it is as dear to me as to you. 
But I must get as close as I can to this elfin 
girl, especially if her own mother is so blind as 
not to enjoy the best thing a woman can have — 
her little daughter’s fullest love and confidence. 
But you and I are always to be you and I — Nan 
and her one mother!” said Mrs. Brett, with her 
good night kiss. 

Nan feU asleep pitying Ailsa that she could 
never be more than this dear woman’s young 
sister-in-law, and resolving to share her mother 
with Ailsa without a grudging pang. 


CHAPTER IV 

INTRODUCING THE MAIDEN AUNT 

idea is this/’ Dinsmore spoke out of a 
passing silence at the breakfast table as if he 
were continuing a discussion, although no one 
had broached his subject. We’ll get a few of 
the girls and boys around here to naeet our 
aunt. We’ll tell thena that she has a naania for 
youthful company and that they’ve got to 
stand by us — -Mona Chapman and Kit Flanders 
and Ham and Gid, anyhow. They’ll hate like 
ginger to come, but they’ll do it, brace them- 
selves to play up to a lady of uncertain age who 
Toves young people!’ You know the sort; it’s 
no slouch of a job to talk to those people who 
condescend right down to your level and try 
to be one with you — especially when they feign 
an interest in sport! I’ll make the boys be- 
lieve that’s the kind Aunt Ailsa is, and Nan 
must give the girls the same steer. We’ll make 
them believe that Aunt Ailsa ’ll be mortally 
offended if our chums aren’t nice to her. They’ll 
agree to do their best to please our venerable 
relative, for our sakes. And they’ll walk right 
up to their martyrdom, too.” 

^^Like Roman gladiolas,” observed Tilly, 
plainly proud of her knowledge, which made it 
the more mortifying to have it hailed with a 
shout of laughter. 


58 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


“Try gladiators, Pill, dear/^ advised Nan. 
“If you’d accent that word right, say glad-E- 
ola, you wouldn’t mix it up with gladiator. 
That’s a dandy plan. Dins! Can’t you see 
their faces when they’re presented to ^our aunt 
Ailsa, Miss Brett?’ ” 

“Can I?” cried Dins rapturously. “Ham es- 
pecially. Besides, it will be our last chance to 
get the benefit of the hoax Aunt Ailsa is.” 

“Hoax! Nephew Dinsmore, be careful! I’m 
perfectly genuine,” said Ailsa. “However, I 
forgive you for the sake of your plan. I’ll like 
to meet your friends in a jolly way like that. 
I’d dread — -a little bit ! — a formal meeting. It 
doesn’t show, or I hope it doesn’t, but I’m a 
tiny bit shy.” 

Dins laughed. “Not much it doesn’t show!” 
he cried. 

“You can’t tell about shyness,” said Nan. “I 
know when I’m scared I chatter and carry on 
more, because if you stop and let the shyness 
get ahead of you, that’s the end of it!” 

“That’s it!” cried Ailsa. “I was in a blue 
funk when I got here yesterday, so I had to be 
lively. Though it took most of the fright out 
of me when Gus told me you were looking for a 
maiden aunt. Children, why do I hear nothing 
of school? Is it possible that you are not 
scholars— at your age?” she added, with a re- 
sumption of “the aunt voice.” 

“Sister Ailsa,” Mr. Brett replied for his 
children, “all your nephews and nieces are at 
school this winter, except Nan. She had ty- 


INTRODUCING MAIDEN AUNT 59 


phoid fever in July and she is to be kept at home 
this winter. I hope that you will see that she is 
faithful to the lessons that she is to learn at 
home. Even Gussie has begun her education. 
She can read that Hhe cat ran, and the dog 
hops, and that the bird sits on its nest^ — and 
sometimes she can read it quite right, even when 
you cover the picture of the cat and the dog and 
the bird!^^ 

‘^And I can count,’’ boasted Gussie, missing 
the point of her father’s account of her ac- 
complishments. “I can count ’way up, an’ 
make figgers — ^fig-yours,” she corrected herself, 
jes’ like my copy, ’f only six don’t turn wrong 
way. Sometimes I make six an’ J with their 
crook on the wrong side of ’em.” 

“Isn’t it funny?” sympathized Ailsa heartily. 
“I’ve known lots of people, little people, who 
couldn’t keep six and J faced the right way.” 

“How about your own education?” hinted 
Dins. 

“ Scrappy,” said Ailsa promptly. “ I’ve been 
to school quite a good deal, but last winter 
mother let me try lessons at home, with a tutor — 
ought you say tutotrix when its a woman? 
She was a splendid tutotrix, that’s sure, and she 
couldn’t help it that I learned most about the 
things that interested me most. I had begun 
again with Miss Leland this year. She loved 
best the very things I did — Slanguage, English 
history, English literature, Greek and Roman 
things— history or mythology, anything about 
them — and anything about Florence, and Rome 


60 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


and Venice in the Middle Ages. And music! 
Miss Leland played gloriously! It^s lucky I 
always loved to read, for you can^t help learning 
something, if you read real books. Mercy! 
You didn’t want me to give you a catalogue of 
what’s inside my head! Father left a splendid 
library,” added Ailsa, turning to her brother. 

Mr. Brett nodded. Father was nearer be- 
ing a bookworm than any other business man 
I ever knew,” he said. 

Jimmy, the silent, unexpectedly spoke at this 
point. I should think you had a terribly good 
education, Ailsa,” he said firmly. should 
like to read all the books there are.” 

'^Some day you’ll have to visit me and read 
your grandfather’s books, Jimsy,” laughed Ailsa. 
A troubled look crossed her face; she glanced 
at her brother. '^They are not my books, of 
course: they belong to — to— Brett Brothers,” 
she said. 

Mr. Brett gave the small sister a warm look. 

Father gave us all a love for books, Ailsa, 
and that’s worth more than any collection of 
books,” he said. 

Not my brothers — I mean my other brothers, 
Gus,” said Ailsa, flushing at her slip of the 
tongue. ^^None of them, nor my sisters, ever 
seemed to care one bit about that glorious 
library. The books have been boxed and stored 
since mother went into the apartment to live.” 

Dins looked at his watch. ^^’Scuse us. Aunt 
Ailsa, please — and mumsy. Time we were 
starting, kids,” he said, pushing back his chair. 


INTRODUCING MAIDEN AUNT 61 


Get the boys for to-night; I’ll see the girls,” 
Nan called after hino as he went out of the room. 

Nan started out on her errand in the middle 
of the forenoon; she knew when she might see 
her friends, Mona Chapman and Kitty Flanders, 
between recitations at the school which had been 
hers and to which she would go back after this 
year. can’t take you with me, Ailsa, to ask 
the girls to come to meet you, of course. But it 
will be the first and last time we shall not go to- 
gether everywhere, everywhere you care to go. 
Mumsy will take care of you,” said Nan, de- 
parting. 

^^If Molly-Mary won’t find me in the way I’d 
rather stay with her than go out,” said Ailsa 
with a look that showed that she had spoken 
truly when she had said that she was sometimes 
a little shy. 

^^Only too glad to have you around, small 
sister,” smiled Mrs. Brett. “I’m such a busy 
person in the morning that you’ll have to fiy 
around like one of those little cash baskets 
which skim along the wires overhead in the dry 
goods shops, if you want to keep up with me.” 

“When it comes to flying around, Molly- 
Mary, I am distinctly in it,” cried Ailsa. 

“You’re quite as slangy as my reprehensible 
Bretts!” cried Mrs. Brett. “But I excuse Nan 
and Tilly on the ground of catching it from their 
brothers. How am I to excuse you?” 

“I have more brothers than Nan and Tilly 
put together!” triumphed Ailsa, and Mrs. Brett 
yielded the point, not knowing how to go about 


62 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


reckoning how naany brothers Nan and Tilly 
would have ^^put together/’ 

Ailsa found that her sister-in-law had spoken 
truly of the busy hours of her morning. Nan 
had certain appointed tasks, setting her own 
room in order, dusting the drawing room and 
dining room, watering flowers, arranging fresh 
flowers for the table, picking up and putting in 
place the many small articles that the mascu- 
line members of the family had used the evening 
before and left where they had used them. This 
first morning Ailsa helped Nan as far as she 
was able, inwardly resolving to become able to 
help her a great deal more after she had been a 
week within this household. It was Ailsa’s 
first experience of seeing anyone but servants do 
practical tasks from necessity, not choice. She 
was as untrained in usefulness as a canary bird 
But in this merry, happy-go-lucky household, 
with five children growing up in it, at various 
stages of the process, and with only good 
Amanda to do its work, domestic occupation 
was not a matter of choice for its mistress nor 
for a daughterly daughter of that mistress. 

Mrs. Brett had a breezy way of getting 
through a rapid succession of tasks, humming 
as she worked; it gave an impression of enjoy- 
ment that made Ailsa wonder. She followed 
her big new-found sister about and, when Mrs 
Brett reached the stage of sitting down to mend 
Jimmy’s jagged rent in a jacket, sat in a low 
chair beside her, her face in her hands, propped 
by her elbows on the chair arm, watching the 


INTRODUCING MAIDEN AUNT 63 


swift scissors that trimmed the edges of the 
tear before a patch should be set under it. 
Ailsa spoke before she thought: You’d actu- 
ally think you liked it, Molly-Mary!” 

^^What? A torn jacket? Far from it, Ailie, 
my dear!” laughed Mrs. Brett. 

didn’t know I was going to say that,” said 
Ailsa blushing. I meant mending — ^and every- 
thing you’ve been doing.” 

Mrs. Brett stole a glance at the keen, pretty 
little dark face beside her, seeing more and 
further than she revealed. 

suppose in a sense I do like it, Ailsa,” she 
said quietly. like to be busy, and more 
often than not I enjoy household tasks. But 
there are other moods, tired ones, out of tune 
ones — they will come, you know! — when I 
have to use spurs, mental spurs. However, in 
one sense I always like to do what I must. 
I want to keep home just as homey as it can be 
and so I like to do what makes it that, even 
when I’m disgruntled with the special task in 
hand. Can you understand that distinction?” 

Ailsa nodded. ^^Yes,” she said. ^^This is 
an awfully homey house. You’re the hominess 
of it, Molly-Mary, I do believe! Mother would 
hate it, all this.” 

Mrs. Brett understood. There’s no reason 
for doing unpleasant things without one must,” 
she said. Your brother is only able to afford 
the kind of home we have. We have to help 
in it, or else lose ever so much comfort. It’s 
worth while doing unpleasant things for the 


64 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


sake of greater pleasantness to have a pretty, 
comfortable home for us all, yith a margin to 
afford music, books, entertainment for ^the 
children. Besides,’^ this dear woman added, 
with a contented laugh, ^^that^s my business in 
the world. I^m the hausfrau and the haus- 
mutter; and I^d be a nice person if I did not try 
a little bit to fill my place, wouldn’t I?” 

“I believe I’ve always thought such things 
weren’t — Oh, Molly-Mary, it sounds horrid, but 
— weren’t quite right for a lady,’' hesitated 
Ailsa. 

^^Dear little goosie,” laughed Molly-Mary, 
'^if a lady is a rich lady, who can afford to hire 
all the service she needs, she’d better spend her 
strength on other tasks than dusting and darn- 
ing. But if she can’t hire a great deal done, 
what is there on earth better for her to do than 
to make a happy, well-kept home in which her 
boys and girls shall grow up good and useful 
men and women? Do you know any greater 
work a woman can do than to train up men and 
women to be true and good and kind, honest, 
useful? And how can they be all these things 
unless their home is sound and sweet?” 

“Molly-Mary,” said Ailsa earnestly, “I can 
hear my head sort of creak and squeak, my brain 
is stretching so! Of course there isn’t anything 
better. But — well, there’s one sure thing, and 
that is that you’re the biggest peach this girl 
ever saw!” 

“Poor little this-girl!” cried Mrs. Brett. 
“Then I’m afraid she’s never seen anything but 


INTRODUCING MAIDEN AUNT 65 


gnarly crabapples! I hear Nan^s slam of the 
front door!’^ 

Nan flew up stairs and hugged her mother as 
if she had not seen her for a week. Then she 
dragged Ailsa to her feet and waltzed her around 
the room. 

^^Mona and Kit are coming/^ she cried. 
saw Dins down the street and he said the boys 
were coming, too. They’re all perfectly sick 
over the ordeal ahead of them. Kit declared 
she couldn’t possibly try to entertain my aunt, 
but Mona said she would, though she thought it 
was a pretty hard test of friendship, and she 
made Kit see that they had to do it for me, or 
else be disloyal. And Dins said the boys were 
worse. He only got Ham and Giddy by promis- 
ing them something in return — ^he wouldn’t tell 
me what it was. Anyway, they’re coming, all 
four of them. I was trying to decide on the 
way home how we’d better, fix it up. Shall we 
have Ailsa in the room when they come, or 
shall we bring her in afterward, mumsy?” 

Mrs. Brett dropped her sewing, giving her 
whole mind to the problem which Nan pre- 
sented. It struck Ailsa as a kind of miracle 
the way her sister-in-law made herself absolutely 
one with her children. 

^Hf she were in the room, and the visitors ar- 
rived separately — ^and they’d hardly get her to- 
gether — ^then the cream would be partly skim- 
med for the later arrivals. I believe it would be 
better to get them together and then bring Ailsa 


66 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


into the room/’ she announced her opinion after 
brief consideration. 

^^Wise mumsy! Of course that’s so,” cried 
Nan. 

‘^Come over to my room and tell me what 
you’d rather I’d wear, Nan,” said Ailsa. 

want you to wear something that will 
make you look your prettiest, your gayest, 
your youngest, but nothing so simple that it 
won’t be fetching’ not childish, you know,” 
said Nan rapidly. 

Been thinking it over, I see!” observed Ailsa. 

Sounds as though I’d have to wear two or 
three frocks, one over the other, and drop one 
every once in a while. No one costume could 
fill that programme. Come pick out what you 
like best, though.” 

Nan threw herself into the solution of her 
problem with the enthusiasm proper to it. 
Ailsa’s gowns had to be displayed over again, 
for Nan said she couldn’t possibly remember 
them from the day before clearly enough to be 
sure in which she wanted her little aunt to ap- 
pear before her friends’ startled eyes. 

‘‘Well, one of these two,” Nan announced at 
last. “I’d like to see which is more becoming 
to you — I’m afraid it must be both of them! 
Try them on, Ailsa; it won’t take long.” 

One was a straight, simply made little frock 
of soft silk, a pale corn color, but its simplicity 
was contradicted by touches of embroidery in 
gorgeous nasturtium shades that made the 
costume look as if it had been made by magic 


INTRODUCING MAIDEN AUNT 67 


out of one of the glowing October maples. The 
rival of this dress was a marvellous shade of 
red chiffon, accordion pleated, so full that the 
skirt floated, swung and fell in brilliant grace 
around Ailsa’s lithe little figure. 

Which?’’ asked Ailsa as she doffed the au- 
tumnal gown and emerged through the soft 
abundance of the red. 

^^1 can’t decide!” cried Nan. ^^Why, they’re 
— they’re too beautiful to be true!” 

don’t want to wear either. Nan. Let’s 
keep them for a party or something. I’ll tell 
you! For that concert we said last night we’d 
give sometime! I have a nice little white thing 
I wear over a crimson slip; it’s pretty and it 
doesn’t make a fuss about it, the way these two 
rather splendid gowns do. Let me wear that. 
And it is really more girlish, if you want to bowl 
these girls and boys over with a kiddy aunt,” 
said Ailsa, with a perception that the rather 
splendid gowns” provided by her mother for 
her necessary appearances among rather splen- 
did” people would look out of place in this 
simpler setting. 

^^All right,” agreed Nan reluctantly. “I be- 
lieve they wouldn’t get acquainted with you as 
soon if you were clothed in ^more-than-oriental 
splendour,’ like the Parsee’s hat in ‘How the 
Rhino Got His Skin.’ Oh, don’t you love the 
Just-So Stories? And, anyway, they’ll see these 
lovely dresses later. All right, wear the wPite. 
May I see it?” 

The precaution of keeping Ailsa out of sight 


68 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


till she could be presented to all her visitors 
simultaneously that night proved to be unneces- 
sary. The two boys had called for the two girls 
and the four thus arrived together at the Brett 
house, fortifying one another. 

Auntie is upstairs,^’ said Nan, welcoming 
them. ^^Put your things in here, in the little 
room, girls. Give them to me.’ ^ 

^^We won’t take them off; we can’t stay 
long,” said Kitty Flanders, in an unnatural 
tone. She glanced at Hamilton Graves and 
Gideon Davis and the two boys frowned at her 
significantly. 

^^Oh, say, don’t act like that!” Dins urged 
them, speaking low, but with an air of anxious 
pleading. Aunt Ailsa knows you’re our special 
chums and what’ll she think if you don’t stay? 
She’ll think it’s on her account and get offended; 
that’s what she’ll do. Take your things off and 
spend the evening, for mercy’s sake.” 

^^You won’t mind telling me. Nan darling: 
Is she so fearfully cranky?” whispered Mona, as 
she and Kit divested themselves of their outer 
garments in dismay. 

^^No, not what I’d call cranky,” said Nan 
with a great effect of candor. ^^But — ^well, 
you’ll see the minute you set eyes on her. She’s 
little, dark, quick in her ways — — ” 

Sounds waspish,” commented Gid. Maiden 
auntish, I suppose.” 

^^Oh, well, do be nice to her,” begged Nan. 
“And don’t treat her like a middle-aged lady; 


INTRODUCING MAIDEN AUNT 69 


she waEts to be treated like one of ourselves, so 
don't be stiff." 

“Limbering sort of an order!" growled Ham. 
“Nobody ever could behave like anything but a 
clothes horse after that sort of instructions." 

“Do the best you can," urged Dins. “We'll 
be grateful, even if you don't quite hit the bull's 
eye. Who's going to ask Aunt AiJsa to come 
down, sis?" 

“Perhaps you'd better, you or Jim. She's 
nice to me, of course, but — well, one of you 
boys go. Tell Jimmy," said Nan. 

“You poor, poor angel!" murmured Kit 
Flanders with profound sympathy. “I can see 
it's worse than you feared it would be." 

“It's different," said Nan, turning away with 
a choke in her voice and not quickly enough to 
keep the girls from seeing that her face was 
crimson . They glanced at each other and shook 
their heads, following Nan into the family sitting 
room as she signalled to them wordlessly. 
Jimmy had gone to fetch the maiden aunt. Mrs. 
Brett sat by the table, frankly idle, a most 
unusual thing for her to be. Mr. Brett lay on 
the couch enjoying a cigar and smiling with half 
closed lids. Tilly was holding Gussie fast, with 
the air of a gaoler; the younger child was 
giggling wildly, the elder looked so serious that 
anyone who knew Tilly would have suspected 
mischief afoot had they noticed her, for Tilly 
always grew solemn in proportion to the mischief 
she was planning. 


70 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Ham and Gid sat down stiffly, then, remem- 
bering Nan’s plea, immediately tried to assume 
easy attitudes, with the result that they looked 
as if they were waiting to be led to the electric 
chair. Nor was the two girls’ air of elegant 
ease more convincing. Nan and Dins retired 
to the rear of the room’ they said afterward 
that they were on the verge of apoplexy, and 
the color of their faces bore out their statement. 

The portiere at the door moved; Jimmy drew 
it back, then gave place to the lady w;hom he 
was escorting to the library. Mona, Kit, Ham 
and Gid sprang to their feet, with an exclama- 
tion from one of them. There stood in the 
doorway a girl, looking younger than Nan. 
dressed all in white with a glow below it, ^^some- 
thing like a lamp with a white shade,” Gid said 
later. She wore a crimson ribbon behind her 
ears, where her dark braids fastened. She was 
pretty, as pretty as an elf, and like one in her 
light quick motions. Her eyes fairly scintillated 
with fun, she was laughing. Instead of intro- 
ducing her the younger Bretts fairly yelled. 
Dins threw himself headlong into a big chair 
and kicked ecstatically. Nan flew at Mona and 
shook her in intense enjoyment of the joke. 
Tilly and Gussie jumped up and down and, as 
they truthfully said, ‘"hollered.” Jimmy, the 
escort, stood on his head in the hall. Mrs. 
Brett, laughing like the youngsters, came to the 
rescue, saying: 

“Mona and Kitty, this is my sister-in-law, 
Ailsa Brett. Ailsa, dear, these are Nan’s best 


INTRODUCING MAIDEN AUNT 71 


friends, Mona Chapman and Kitty Flanders. 
And these are Dins^ cronies, Hamilton Graves 
and Gideon Davis. What do you think of the 
maiden aunt, Mona, Kit, Ham, Gid? Say some- 
thing quick, Ailsa; you^ll prove fatal to them!’^ 

''All right,’’ cried Ailsa. "I’ll make friends 
with them, if they’ll let me.” 

She came forward holding out her hand. The 
boys were nearest and Ham took it absent- 
mindedly. "For the sake of Mike!” ejaculated 
Ham slowly. "Are you a girl?” 

"No; I’m a Jarley waxwork!” cried Ailsa. 

"I think it will kill me!” cried Kit, in extreme 
earnestness. But there was no resisting the 
magnetism, the charm of this flashing, laughing, 
blushing elfish " maiden aunt.” Mona, rallying, 
fell instantly head over heels in love with the 
new girl, in the reaction from the shock of 
finding her a girl and so very new. "Oh, I 
guess we will make friends!” she cried, and 
kissed Ailsa. 

Then the four girls had, what the boys de- 
scribed as "a hugging match,” though the spirit 
that moved them to pound one another on the 
backs was precisely the same. The joke was 
such a good one, and it was so good in another 
sense, so good that Ailsa was what she was in all 
ways sure to add to the fun of the winter before 
them ! In over-flowing delight the girls hugged 
one another and the boys pounded one another’s 
backs till the exuberance of the moment was 
somewhat cooled and they could breathlessly 
sit down to enjoy it more quietly. 


72 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


We’ll be a club this winter, just us. Before 
any of the other boys and girls get onto us, let’s 
form one right now,” said Gid. 

^^Four girls and only three boys; there ought 
to be another boy, anyway, and maybe there’d 
better be more than eight,” said Nan. 

There’s Jim and me,” observed Tilly to no 
one in particular and without undue fussiness 
about grammar. ^^Just because I’m younger 
than Nan I can’t get in. I bet there’s more’n 
four or five years difference in the ages of people 
in grown up clubs. Ain’t it funny? I wonder 
when you get old enough so it doesn’t make any 
difference? And I can do ’most anything Nan 
does!” 

Tilly, please not ain’t!” implored Mrs. 
Brett. Never mind, daughterkins; some day 
you’ll reap the benefit of your denials. When 
you are thirty-odd you’ll be glad to say: ^Oh, 
no; not Mona Chapman and Katharine Flanders! 
I never went about with them; they’re my sister 
Anne’s age.’ You’ve no notion how glad you’ll 
be to fall back on the fact that they were too 
old for you to play with.” 

The older girls laughed, but Tilly looked un- 
convinced. ^^I’d just a lief say I had fun with 
them, though they were older,” said that sharp 
child. 

^^We said last night we’d give a charity con- 
cert this winter. We might have a musical 
club,” said Nan. ^^Ailsa can play — -well, how 
she can play! Play something, Ailsa; some- 
thing good and lively.” 


INTRODUCING MAIDEN AUNT 73 


Ailsa obligingly got up. She played a Hun- 
garian dance that made sitting still impossible. 

^^Why not dance?'’ cried Mrs. Brett. ^^I'll 
play for you." 

The piano stood close to the library door in 
the drawing room, and equally close to the 
dining room. It could be heard as well in one 
of the three rooms as in another. The Brett 
house seemed designed, as well as furnished and 
run, expressly for the pleasures of a lively crowd 
of young folks. The Bretts and their friends 
were always dancing. The three boys pushed 
back the dining room table and rolled back the 
rug, proving that they were used to this prepara- 
tion. 

Mrs. Brett played as she did everything else, 
spiritedly, clearly, blithely. Her fingers had not 
grown stiff though they were such busy ones; 
she never let them lose their skill, at least skill 
sufficient to give her children and their friends 
a dance, or an accompaniment to their singing. 

Come on, daddybrett ! You have to dance or 
else we shall be one short," Nan summoned her 
father. ''Four big girls and three big boys; 
Jimmy and Tilly won't have a partner unless 
you come in." 

"I'll come," Mr. Brett sighed, pretending a 
reluctance he did not feel as he pulled himself 
together. "But we must have one round of 
Paul Jones, with an odd dancer, to let the baby 
have one sip of the cup. Then Gussie must go 
right to bed, and go to sleep to get big enough 
to sit up for two dances next year." He smiled 


74 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


at Gussie, who was looking dismal, and she 
brightened and smiled back again. 

^'All right,’’ she said cheerfully. didn’t 
want to go to bed at once, but I won’t tease not 
to go at twice.” 

Then the dance began, young and elder ones 
as merry as grigs. When it was over the ac- 
quaintance of her callers with the maiden aunt’ ’ 
was not only made, but fully grown. It was 
not strange, Ailsa thought, enjoying, yet watch- 
ing the merry kindliness of her new-found 
family, that Mona, Kit and these two boys 
^'just about lived at our house,” as Dins in- 
formed her that they did. 


CHAPTER V 


THE NEW GIRL 

Ailsa came, she was seen and she conquered! 
Every girl knows what an advantage it is to be 
a new girl. While the newness lasts the is 
interesting, especially if she is new in a small 
place, or a resort. After the novelty wears off 
it depends on what the eager investigators of 
her qualities find in her as to whether she holds 
the prominence her arrival gave her, or drops 
down to the level of just a girl. 

Ailsa Brett was absorbingly interesting to 
Nan and Dins^ friends. She had the twofold 
advantage of being a novelty and being a girl, 
when everybody had been on the lookout for a 
crabbed person of doubtful age. But Ailsa had 
that in her which would have given her prom- 
inence among her mates if she had fallen among 
them in a gray cocoon to deaden her approach 
and to conceal her from instant recognition. 
Pretty, clever, graceful, over-flowing with life 
and spirits, she added to these gifts that in- 
tangible, but particularly vital quality which is 
called charm. There was no doubt of it; Ailsa 
was ^^a success in Renwyck from the start. 
Nan received a telephone call from Mona Chap- 
man the morning after she had met Ailsa. 

^^Can^t you come over this morning, Nan?^’ 
and her tone was urgent. ^^Come and walk to 


76 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


school with me. It won’t take long and 1 can’t 
possibly wait till afternoon to see you.” 

^^Yes, I’ll go. I have to take an order down 
in town for mumsy, anyway. Alone?” Nan 
telephoned back. 

^^What? Oh, yes; please, alone, this time. 
Good bye,” Mona replied. 

^^Now, Nannie, I want you to tell me every 
single thing about her,” Mona began, tucking 
her hand close and cosily through Nan’s arm. 
She was waiting on the steps for her friend to 
appear. Isn’t she great? We’re all four of us 
crazy about her. And such a surprise ! W e had 
no idea. Isn’t it fine for you? But don’t you 
go to liking her better than me — ^not that I’d 
blame you! I’m simply nowhere beside Ailsa 
Brett!” 

Mona was one of those pretty, confiding 
creatures, amiable, without great depth or 
strength of character, who are spoken of as 
sweet girls,” and whom their girl friends pet 
and protect. Nan loved Mona devotedly and 
hung upon her little figure all sorts of noble 
traits and deep emotions, for which little Mona 
had no capacity. That sort of friendship be- 
tween girls keeps up beautifully as long as the 
stronger one goes on attributing to the other 
these creations of an ideal. But when the 
dreamer wakes up there are sure to be tearful 
times; the shallower girl is blamed for her 
deficiencies, not quite fairly, since she is not 
responsible for the spectacles through which her 
friend saw her. 


THE NEW GIRL 


77 


Now Nan squeezed Mona’s arm reproach- 
fully as she cried: ^‘Mona, dearest, I wish you 
would not say such things, even in fun ! I know 
you don’t, you can’t believe them, but I hate 
to hear you say anything like that. You know 
1 couldn’t care for any other girl as I do for you. 
And Ailsa is different; she’s in the family. I 
don’t know just how to reckon her; it’s ridicu- 
lous, of course, to think of her as an aunt. 
She’s daddy’s sister, so I think I’ll stretch a 
point and consider her mine. At any rate, she 
can’t take your place! Ailsa is a darling, that’s 
sure, but you’re— you’re my Mona. It’s lovely 
to know, as mumsy says, that nobody can take 
anybody else’s place, not exactly. I was won- 
dering if you could possibly ever think, when 
vou saw — as you will see — me loving Ailsa, that 
I’ve gone back on you the least bit? Please 
let us settle it right here! I shall love Ailsa 
dearly; I know it, but I shall never let anyone 
else but you be my best, my most intimate 
friend. So promise, Mona, you won’t ever, 
ever imagine I do.” 

Poor Nan was in desperate earnest, looking 
pretty and excited as she spoke, and she waited 
eagerly for her friend’s assurance. Mona had 
the coquette’s instinct of playing with and on a 
nature more earnest than her own. She shook 
her head. 

^^I don’t know. Nan,” she said. “You don’t 
think so now, but how can you tell? As I said, 
Ailsa is a thousand times nicer than I am ; she’s 
bewitching. I can’t promise never to think 


78 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


you like her better than me, because some day 
I may see you do.” 

Nan looked distressed. ''Oh, dear, oh, dear 
me, Mona! I wish you^d just be sure, once for 
all! I never change, and you ought to know it. 
I suppose I must just let it go, let time show. 
But unless you^re sure of me you^ll imagine 
Ailsa has taken your place when you see us 
having good times together, she living with me 
and all! And though it won’t be true, if you 
think it is it will be just as bad,” she sighed. 

"Oh, mercy. Nan, that’s all right!” exclaimed 
Mona. "I think Ailsa’s really a peach, a 
wonder; she’s great! 1 wanted you to tell me 
all about her, everything. The boys asked lots 
of questions going home last night and 1 couldn’t 
answer one. I told them 1 hadn’t heard a lisp 
from you because you were keeping dark to sur- 
prise us with a lovely maiden, instead of a 
maiden aunt. Now tell me all you know about 
Ailsa. I’m going to tell the other girls at school 
about her. They’ll all be rushing to your house 
in swarms and droves to get acquainted.” 

Nan laughed, throwing her anxiety as to 
future jealousy to the winds. 

" I don’t know as much as I ought,” she began, 
"because my father did not stay at home after 
his father married Ailsa’s mother and he has 
never known his half brothers and sisters. 
Ailsa’s mother is a great society and club 
woman. They are richer than we are, that’s 
sure, but I suspect we’re far better off — happier, 
you know. Ailsa shows she has done pretty 


THE NEW GIRL 


79 


much as she pleased. Her mother isn^t the 
duck ours is, that^s plain. Ailsa isn’t intimate 
with her; she said as much.” 

^^You know we all say there isn’t any other 
mother quite the way yours is, Nan,” said 
Mona. wouldn’t change with you, because 
nobody would change her mother, but there’s 
no house in Renwyck we all love to go to like 
yours. Has Ailsa lots of nice clothes and 
jewelry?” 

^^Her clothes are perfectly scrumptious!” 
cried Nan fervently. She hasn’t much jewelry 
but what she has is fine. Now that’s all I 
know about her, really, Mona. Except that 
she’s funny, and sunny, and as bright as she 
can be, friendly, and so full of cute little ways 
that you feel like jumping up and squeezing her 
every few minutes.” 

I know that part of it myself,” agreed Mona. 
‘'You haven’t told me much; nothing wildly 
new and interesting. But Ailsa Brett’s new 
enough and interesting enough. I’m going to 
tell the girls she is here and bring them to see 
her; shall I?” 

“Of course,” said Nan. “Here’s where I turn 
off, Mona. We’ll have a splendid winter. Ailsa 
talks of all sorts of things we can do. I imagine 
she’ll wake us up.” 

“Never was alseep,” laughed Mona, waving 
her hand as she turned toward the school 
entrance. 

By contrast with the condition of Renwyck 
girls after Ailsa had become one of them it 


80 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


really did seem as though they had been asleep 
before. 

All the girls in Mona and Kit^s class — ^which 
had been Nan^s class, also — came to see Nan^s 
surprising maiden aunt.’^ They came in pairs 
and then the first callers came again to bring 
the others, till it seemed as though the house 
were alive with girls after school hours. 

^^It^s entirely different from at home,^’ said 
Ailsa in high glee. They’re much stiff er 
there. Or else I never knew the limber 
girls! Maybe that’s it. Mother’s friends are 
rather formal and I knew their daughters. 
Perhaps Renwyck is a more heart-to-heart 
place. Or is it because we’re Molly-Mary’s 
girls? I believe it’s that. Nan! Your blessed 
mother, my sister-in-law, is so warming she’d 
thaw a Simplon.” 

thought it was simpleton,” said Tilly, in 
good faith, striving after information. 

“Simplon Pass, in the Alps, Tilly-Pilly,” ex- 
plained Ailsa. “That’s one of my careless 
learned ’lusions! I want to make you think I 
know a lot. It’s an icy spot, and that’s all I 
know about it, to be honest.” 

“It hasn’t anything to do with anything, ex- 
cept the girls are stuck on you,” said Jimmy un- 
expectedly; he had a way of coming in like an 
oracle when nobody thought he was hearing 
what was said. 

“Truthful James,” murmured Nan, for this 
was one of Jimmy’s nicknames. 

“The very last girl has been to see you. Now 


THE NEW GIRL 


81 


you’ll be asked to little parties; me, too, and 
Dms. I’d like a new dress.” ^ 

“You don’t need a new dress one bit,” said 
Tilly severely. “Yes, you do, too,” she added 
with an inspiration. “Then I’d get your other 
one.” 

“Somehow I think mumsy doesn’t like to 
hear about new clothes this winter, this fall, for 
this winter,” said Nan, dropping her voice that 
it might not penetrate beyond Ailsa. “I sup- 
pose it’s because the family gets more expensive 
as it grows older. Mumsy gets us all that she 
can — ^more! I’d like a new dress, but I won’t 
say so. My dresses are good enough, only I’ve 
worn my two best ones rather often, too.” 

“Take one of mine. Nobody has seen them 
here, and I don’t need as many as mother got 
for me to bring here,” cried Ailsa. 

“You duck! But I guess I wouldn’t take 
yours! Besides,” Nan hurried on as Ailsa tried 
to speak, “what could I do with your skirt? 
Wear it as a ruffle?” She put an arm out level 
across little Ailsa’s shoulder to point her ques- 
tion; Ailsa just came under it. 

“I think that I could properly give my niece 
a dress,” said Ailsa. “And maybe I’ll grow 
taller.” 

“That wouldn’t make the skirts you have now 
any longer,” said Tilly, frowning in an effort to 
find sense in Ailsa’s suggestion, and the two 
older girls laughed. 

“Tilly, I’m ashamed of you!” Ailsa rebuked 
her. ^'Wouldn’t I have them longer while I 


82 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


was growing? Of course I’d have the skirts I 
now have longer; you can’t grow in a nainute.” 

Jimmy exploded with a joyous whoop. Alice 
did, in Wonderland,” he cried. '^Less’n a 
minute! And you talk just her kind of non- 
sense. Tilly can’t ever see fun ’less it’s hollerin’ 
at her.” 

“Nan, we’re going to have a great time this 
winter, kind of an old-fashioned, real good time, 
not the kind the girls at home have, formal 
parties and all that,” declared Ailsa. “I want 
to get up some clubs.” 

“The musical one?” asked Nan, wide-eyed. 
“That can’t be more than ourselves and Ham 
and Giddy. I wish Mona could belong, but 
she doesn’t do anything musical.” 

“That one,” nodded Ailsa. “But that’s as 
good as formed now. I want — ^what do you 
think? A dramatic club! Would Molly-Mary 
mind?” 

“To act?” cried Nan and Tilly and Jimmy at 
once. “No, of course mumsy wouldn’t mind!” 

“Why should she?” Nan went on. “But 
who could act?” 

“All of us!” Ailsa declared. “More or less, 
and something or other. I should think we 
could take in Mona and Kit, and maybe a boy 
more, and not need anyone else. It’s better to 
keep these things small. And Tilly and Jimmy 
could take parts, if we needed them.” 

Tilly jumped up and whirled around, waving 
her long arms wildly. 

“If we needed the parts you mean,” she cried. 


THE NEW GIRL 83 

there^s aDything on this earth I want to do 
it is act, and I^m pretty sure I could do it” 
We^d give a Dutch play and you could be a 
windmill; you look like one when you spin 
around, waving your arms like that,’^ laughed 
Nan. 

think we ought to pick out a charity to 
help, and give a play for it. That^s the way 
society people do. You couldn't ask people to 
come to see us act, especially to buy tickets for 
it, but you could ask them to help a charity,” 
announced Ailsa. 

“I don't believe there is a charity that needs 
help, not in Renwyck,'' said Nan. ^^There aren't 
many poor people. Almost everybody has 
work and earns enough to get along; those who 
don't, won't, and every church here has a few of 
what Doctor Delamater calls ^ chronics ' to take 
care of, besides doing the charity work, like 
hospitals and such things.” 

^^Then we'll start a charity and give a play 
for its first funds!” laughed Ailsa. 

^^We'll find an excuse! I haven't heard 
mother's committees for nothing all my days. 
Mona and Kit are coming with the boys to- 
night, aren't they?” 

^^To found the Musical Club?” nodded Nan. 
“ The girls are coming to see it is properly begun ; 
that will be their part.” 

“If ever I act,” said Jimmy suddenly, with 
his customary unexpectedness after the subject 
was abandoned, “I want to play a coon, put on 


84 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


burnt cork, and do a clog dance. I know a 
beaut 

^^Well, of all things!’^ cried Ailsa. would 
have made you a clergyman 

^^Or else in Highland costume; a fling, you 
know,’^Jimmy finished his announcement, dis- 
regarding the interruption; Ailsa had thought 
he had finished speaking. 

there anybody at leisure to make mayon- 
naise for dinner? Amanda can’t and I am so 
hurried I’m flurried!” Mrs. Brett’s face, flushed 
and surrounded by more than ordinarily ruffled 
rings of curls, was thriist through the door to 
ask the question. 

^^0, dearest mumsy! I fcH:got all about you 
and that you had so much to do this afternoon !” 
cried Nan, self-reproach in her voice. ^H’ll 
make the mayonnaise.” 

^^Molly-Mary, I’d be glad to make it, but I 
haven’t an idea how it’s done. I’ll watch Nan 
for next time,” said Ailsa. '^You look tired, 
dear Dearness! Now I’ve met all the girls, I’m 
going to be useful. Talking about organizing, 
Nan; let’s make our first charity foundation 
the MoUy-Mary Rescue League, and help this 
honeycomb.” 

always helped her — sl little,” said Nan, 
half resenting this suggestion. 

^'"'But I never did; never knew her, and I 
don’t know how to do much. I’m going to be 
a good-for-something,” declared Ailsa, and she 
jumped up to give her sister oiie of her pretty, 
quick caresses, which were so endearing. 


THE NEW GIRL 


85 


That night the four young people appeared 
early, Ham with his cornet and an embarrassed 
smile; Gid with his concertina and a board grin, 
because it was a humorous instrument. Mona 
and Kit brought nothing but sympathy for the 
enterprise and a boundless admiration. 

We’re going to represent the public,” said 
Kit. We’re going to criticize, so when you 
give a concert you’ll be used to it.” 

think this club should have a name the 
first thing,” said Nan. 

^^Same here,” agreed Dins. was thinking 
to ‘The Toots and Scoots;” we’d toot and who- 
ever heard us would scoot. See?” 

“The Charm Club — music hath charms to 
soothe the savage breast,’ you know,” mur- 
mured Mrs. Brett, rather to herself, to try the 
suggestion, than to make it. 

“Rude to the audience, mamma,” said Mr. 
Brett. “You can’t frankly tell it that it has 
a savage breast. I would suggest ‘The Trying 
Club,’ implies you’ll do the best you can and 
that those who hear you will find your best not 
too good.” 

“Daddybrett, you are quite outrageous!” 
cried Nan. “Besides, you needn’t say ‘you,’ 
in that separate way; you’ve got to flute with 
us.” 

“Fancy how ridiculous I’d look with you 
youngsters!” remonstrated Mr. Brett. “Of 
course I’m looking forward to that concert 
Ailsa talks about.” 

“Not a bit of it, Mr. Brett, you’re right in it 


86 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


with us/^ cried Ham, so sincerely that Mr. Brett 
looked pleased and his A^ife beamed upon him 
admiringly. ^^Call it the Hit-or-Miss Club,’^ 
she advised. That^s as accurate as any musical 
title.^’ 

More so,’V Ailsa decided. “That^s all right, 
Molly-Mary dear. Now Hits and Misses get 
out your instruments while I get the music. 
Nan, Dins and I decided to practice H Would 
That My Love,’ Mendelssohn . My brother and 
Dins will play the soprano and alto on the flute 
and violin. Ham must make a tenor for his 
cornet ” 

'^What is the concertina to do?” demanded 
Giddy. 

Sort of flourish around with me, accompany- 
ing,” said Ailsa. ^^And Jimmy is to tootle in 
and out on his ocarina. Oh, we’ll And out when 
we begin. We took Would That My Love’ 
because you can’t help hearing the harmonies in 
it.” 

Well, 1 hope you can’t; I’d bet you couldn’t 
help hearing the discords,” said Ham. ^^It’s 
dollars to doughnuts everybody’ll wish that our 
Tove could silently flow in a single word’ before 
we get through!” 

^^Where’s your flute, Gus? demanded Ailsa. 

“0, I don’t want to!” whimpered Mr. Brett, 
pretending to be frightened, his finger in his 
mouth. 

^ ^ Augustus ! This in st ant , sir ! ” ordered Ailsa 
sternly, reaching up to take her big brother by 
the ears and bump his head against the door as 


THE NEW GIRL 


87 


hard as the portiere allowed. After which the 
orchestra got to work with such fearful and won- 
derful results at first that Mrs. Brett, Mona, 
Kit and Tilly were weak with laughter and the 
players themselves had to stop. 

^^Oh, Machias, Maine!” groaned Dins. '^Too 
much of my nickname about that! It^s as bad 
as the Calthumpian band. Let^s try something 
less classic — Marching Through G-a., Georgia, 
or There’s a Girl in Havana— any old geograph- 
ical thing like tDat.” 

Yes. Let’s play something we all know till 
we catch on to one another’s style, so to speak,” 
said Giddy. “A Mendelssoon duet is all right, 
Ailsa, but when seven are sawing it all ways at 
once it’s not exactly a duet; it’s a case for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to get after.” 

You can work up to fine music later, if you 
make the Club a success, but, to be honest, it 
doesn’t seem to suit the ocarina and the con- 
certina — ^pardon me. Giddy and Jimmy!” said 
Mrs. Brett, sinking back in her chair quite worn 
out with mirth. 

^^All right,” said Ailsa, yielding with a smile 
that cleared away the gloom which had gathered 
on her brow. ^^1 know plenty of trash, if that’s 
all. Let’s play ‘all the popular airs of the day!’ 
There’s a book of them somewhere around. Oh, 
do look at Peggy!” she added when she stooped 
to search for the highly colored ‘Album’ of 
rag time and other lively airs which she sought. 
The little dog had come into the room and was 
sitting under the piano, erect and begging with 


88 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


her short little forepaws crossed, waving wildly. 
She ran to Ailsa and licked her face with a swift 
thrust of her soft tongue before the girl could 
dodge it. 

^^When Peggy begs us to stop it^s time for a 
change of programme,’^ Ailsa laughed. ^^You 
hold the pup, Nan/' She deposited Peggy in 
Nan's lap, and opened the vivid book on the 
piano rack. ^^Come on again. Hits and Misses. 
Anybody play any part he likes; I'll accompany 
and we'll try to hit it — the first time was the 
^ miss' part of our name." 

^^And put lots of ginger into it; there's no 
good in lively things played with resignation," 
cried Mr. Brett, as boyish as his boys were, now 
he was under way. 

^^Nan, give Peg to mums and come here and 
count. Somebody's got to count aloud, or we'll 
all be in a different bar before we get half way 
through," added Dins. 

^Ht sounded as though we had been in a great 
many different bars, before," remarked Giddy 
playing an interlude on his concertina with 
approved rockings of the body, true minstrel 
style. 

^Fiddle up, fiddle up; get your violin," 
sang Mona, who did not altogether enjoy her 
exclusion from the concert. 

So the Hit-or-Miss Club went at the gay 
music with renewed vigor and this time they 
made good on the first word of their name. 

That's a hit all right, all right !" cried Jimmy, 


THE NEW GIRL 89 

blissful, but purple from his mad blowing into 
his ocarina. 

^^Dat sho^ is fine!^’ approved Amanda, com- 
ing in with a laden tray. was listening to 
you f’om de kitchen till it drawed me into de 
hall yondah. I couldn^t hardly git de tray 
loaded. I put de stove lifter on my first napkin 
on de tray an’ it lef’ a smooch so’t I had ter 
begin ovah. I didn’t know it f’om a spoon, 
ac’chully, dat chune was so ’morahzin’. You 
sut’nly plays like a theatre register. You make 
my ole feet hop ’round, spite of de mis’ry, an’ 
dey huhts me pow’ful bad, for a fac’.” 

“Oh, Amanda, please dance a hoe-down with 
Jimmy, please, cried Nan. “Mother and 
Dins will play for you! Please! Ailsa never 
saw you.” 

“Now, Nan, you go ’long! Hain’t I jes’ tole 
you what pain I ^t? How come you ask me 
dance like dat? But Jimmy sut’nly does cut 
pigeon wings like I ’most never seen’em,” said 
Amanda, plainly enjoying Nan’s request. 

Nan glanced at her mother. Mrs. Brett took 
Ailsa’s place at the piano. Dins raised his violin 
and they began to play with such reckless jollity 
that Amanda’s bulk rocked before Jimmy ran 
out and faced her, with a deep bow, in the middle 
of the floor. They then danced ! And how they 
danced. The small boy amazed Ailsa, who had 
regarded Jimmy as the one quiet Brett, but he 
danced this “hoe-down” like a sprite. Yet he 
could not surpass Amanda. She danced in 
every atom of her big body, gracefully, rhythmic- 


90 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


ally, with humor and bubbling fun, rolling her 
eyes, her hands on her hips, the picture of the 
old Southern darkey, the embodiment of a 
merry-making in ^Hhe quarters” after the day 
was over and play time followed work. Breath- 
less, at last Amanda stopped, and Jimmy ended 
the performance by standing on his head for a 
moment, saluting Amanda with wavings of his 
slender legs. The Hit-or-Miss Club applauded 
frantically, Peggy rushed around barking wildly, 
yet with an eye on the tray and her mind divided 
between the excitement of seeing Jimmy re- 
versed and the hope of ^^cakie.” 

Thank you, Amanda dear!” cried Nan. 
'^There’s nobody can dance that like you and 
Jimmie. I^m ever so much obliged, Amanda, 
and sorry youhe out of breath.” 

Amanda^s eyes rolled frightfully, but she 
beamed with childlike satisfaction in her talent. 

^^My mammy taught me,” she managed to 
gasp. An^ she an^ her ole mammy Tore her was 
de renowningest dancers in dem parts. It’s de 
genwine ole plantation way, Miss Ailsa, an’ I 
showed Jimmie de how of it. You done seen 
de genwine ole style. If you wants more 
lem’nade. Miss Nan, honey, it’s jes’ out yondah 
waitin — ^in de lemons!” 

With which Amanda departed in high glee, 
laughing inwardly and greatly pleased with her- 
self and her world. 

The musicians resumed their playing as soon 
as the crumbs allowed the cornetist and ocarina 
player to blow with safety. Mr. Brett retired, 


THE NEW GIRL 


91 


but they soon had him up again by main force 
and his excellent flute playing, with Din^s fair 
skill on the violin and Ailsa’s remarkable talents, 
made up for Ham’s erratic cornet and Jimmy’s 
fitful ocarina; Giddy’s concertina had been with- 
drawn from the fray, its owner’s arms having 
given out. 

‘^Well, we’re a musical club safe and sound,” 
cried Ailsa at last, spinning around, warm and 
weary after the final measure. ‘^Now, who’ll 
join a Dramatic Club? Will you, Kit and 
Mona?” 

^^Oh, Ailsa, do you mean to act?” cried Mona 
with fervor. 

Dramatic clubs don’t usually sew patch- 
work ! ” laughed Ailsa. I mean to act, Mona — 
plays ! And to give them for charity this winter. 
My brother and sister said we might. Will you 
join?” 

^^We said you might organize the club, and 
decide on giving the play later,” Mrs. Brett re- 
minded her. Mona and Kitty did not hear the 
correction ; they were too deeply stirred. 

^Ht’s the one thing I’ve wanted to do ever 
since I can remember,” said Mona solemnly. 

^H’d love to join the club and act, if I can act,” 
said Kitty, equally, though less solemnly, moved. 
''I want a part where I wear a snippy, frilly 
apron.” 

''Write a part around an apron, Ailsa,” 
advised Mr. Brett, enjoying the conversation 
from his couch. 


92 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


^^Boys, are you in this, too?” asked Ailsa 
briefly. 

‘^Yes, m^am. ^^Wefll go into anything you 
get lip,” replied Ham and Giddy in duet. 

^‘But I won^t play Hamlet, not my first 
season,” Ham added. 

“Then weT have a dramatic club, besides!” 
cried Ailsa. “Wefll meet Friday and discuss a 
play and begin to rehearse right away. I thought 
we’d call this the Rachel Club?” 

“Renwyck will pronounce it Rachel instead 
of Rah-shel, and say you’re mourning for your 
children, maybe,” said Dins. “But it’s a decent 
enough name; I’m only trying to be clever. 
Auntie Ailie.” 

“What a genius for organizing Ailsa is!” 
sighed Mona, admiringly. 

“Hand-organizing! That’s a veiled reference 
to the musical club,” laughed Dins, but he re- 
garded Ailsa with proud affection. 


Chapter VI 


ENTHUSIASMS 

Ailsa made a great difference in the Brett 
household. The curious fact was that she whom 
the younger Bretts had dreaded as likely to cur- 
tail their liveliness actually was, as Dins said, 
^Tike a whole box of yeast cakes in the house.'’ 

'^^Your motto, Auntie, ought to be: Never 
nothing doing ! ” Dins told Ailsa. “ That's where 
two negatives equal a positive. There's never 
NOTHING where you are; always something." 

That's what I like," replied Ailsa. ^^Did 
you say you were going to give a party for me, 
MoUy-Mary? " 

^^That seems to be plainly my duty," laughed 
Mrs. Brett. You and Nan, with Dins as good 
measure, are getting invitations so often that I 
must let you return them in some form of 
hospitality. Don't you think it may as well be 
a party?" 

I'll tell you what I think," said Ailsa, leaving 
her chair to go and perch on the arm of her 
sister's chair. ^^I've been thinking what would 
be nice." She did not say so, but she had in 
mind Nan's unspoken desire for a new gown and 
the way to dodge the need of one. ^^Thanks- 
giving will be Nan's birthday, this year. Let's 
have a grateful party!" 

'^What's that?" demanded Tilly. 


94 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


“A faggot party — ^the grateful!, you know?’’ 
suggested Dins. 

A Grateful Pumpkin Party,” amended Ailsa. 

“Never have I heard of such a thing!” cried 
Nan, while Mrs. Brett raised her eyebrows with 
a whimsical look of puzzled inquiry. 

“Of course you never have! I thought of it 
myself. It’s a little invention of my own, like 
the White Knight’s way to get off a horse,” 
cried Ailsa triumphantly. “Everybody is to 
wear a long yellow cambric slip, with a cap of the 
same and a stiff green thing, like a stem, standing 
up on the top — a, pumpkin, you see! And be 
masked, that is for the first part of the evening. 
And each one must be numbered and each must 
carry something to represent what he or she is 
most grateful for during the past year. And 
we are all to guess what the thing represented is, 
and then guess who it is that carries it. Of 
course I won’t know enough about the people 
to guess, but it will be no end of fun. for the 
crowd that belongs together. I know what I 
shall carry! Don’t you think that would be a 
jolly party? Prizes for the best representation 
of the thing for which they are grateful and 
prizes for those who guess most of the articles, 
and then to those who guess most of the people 
who have them. W e’ll give each guest a number 
and a tablet and pencil and they must all write 
their guesses against the number of the person 
carrying the article. I’m so proud of that game 
I nearly burst out of my room early this morning 
to wake everybody up to hear about it; I woke 


ENTHUSIASMS 


95 


up at five and thought it out. I believe my 
yellow room inspired the yellow pumpkin domi- 
nos!^’ 

''Peggy and Middy could come to a pumpkin 
party; Peggy's yellow and pumpkin shaped, 
and Middy's the yellowest kitten I ever saw," 
said Gussie, looking lip from her efforts to teach 
Middy to sit on Peggy's back, an attempt the 
small dog feared, in spite of the cloth protecting 
her from the kitten's frantic clawing. 

"But somebody might gUess who they were 
if they came in their yellow costumes, blue 
would be a better disguise. I wouldn't put 
Middy on Peggy's back, Gussie baby, since they 
both dislike it. That sounds like a particularly 
nice party, Ailsa," said Mrs. Brett. "The 
dancing after unmasking should be country 
dances, to carry out the pumpkin idea, and the 
refreshments, should be something appropriate 
to Thanksgiving. Let us see! Turkey sand- 
wiches, nuts, raisins, and — have it! Tiny 
individual pumpkin and mince pies, baked 
in patty-pans! They would be a great deal of 
work, but we could stretch a point, especially 
as it is a celebration of Nan's fifteenth birthday, 
as well as a Grateful Party." 

"Molly-Mary, you are the most perfectest, 
the mostest perfectest mother-woman in all this 
world!" cried Ailsa. "You never balk at any- 
thing, and you take up every suggestion one of 
us bothersomes make and improve on it! Yet 
the only thing in it for you is our adoration!" 

"That would be enough to satisfy any un- 


96 THE LITTLE AUNT 

reasonable woman laughed Mrs. Brett. 

“Nan, where are you? What do you say to 
this proposed birthday party? 

“I'm stunned," cried Nan. “It will be a 
fine party! Is it decided upon?" 

“ Certainly it is. The proposal was a decision . 
None named it but to praise," Dins reminded 
her. “Let me come in on making out the lists 
of guests. We ought to make it something 
worth while, not stick to our own little gang." 

Mrs. Brett looked up quickly. Nan ostenta- 
tiously sniffed the air. “I smell a mice!" she 
declared. 

“Well, what's the matter with the Browers? 
Of course Nan smelled a mice: I did have them 
in mind. They're more fun than anyone I 
know," said Dins with heightened color. Ailsa 
pricked up her ears at this name, new to her. 

“Dear Dins," said Mrs. Brett gently, “we've 
discussed the Brower girls before. I do not 
know that there's anything actually the matter 
with them, but they are not quite our sort. Our 
girls and boys are simple girls and boys; their 
fun is gay, but never out of key with their youth. 
The Browers affect fast ways. I've no desire to 
say those girls are not unjust to themselves in 
appearing as they do; I hope it is merely bad 
taste. But it is such very bad taste that I 
distinctly object to them as comrades for you and 
Nan." 

Ailsa looked wonderingly at her sister; it was 
the first time she had heard this note of grave 
authority in her voice. 


ENTHUSIASMS 


97 


really don^t care about them, Dins,^’ said 
Nan. ^^They do entertain me, I^U admit that. 
They know every new song on Broadway as soon 
as it gets to New York, and theyTe full of the 
funniest tricks and stories. But when I think 
them over afterward — ^I’m glad Mona and Kit 
arenT like that.^^ 

^^Well, sir,’^ said Dins defiantly, like them 
and I want to ask them, if we have a party big 
enough to get in some outside our crowd. Vd 
like to know what harm there is in being lively? 
You donT have to do everything they do. You 
couldnT, anyhow, and I’m willing to say I 
wouldn’t care so much to see you trying. It is 
not your style,” he added hastily, as his mother 
smiled. ‘^But the Browers treat a chap right; 
they’re awfully nice to us boys, though they 
know an older crowd. All the other girls to- 
gether don’t get as much notice from the older 
chaps as the Brower girls do, yet they never 
snub my crowd. I want to ask them, mums, 
if the party is big enough. They’ve been decent 
to me lots of times.” 

Mrs. Brett looked thoughtfully at handsome 
Dins, understanding in her heart that the gay 
girls in question would be likely to be ^Mecent” 
to the lad, aird'thipking, as she often thought,, 
how hard it was to deal wisely with a boy in his 
seventeenth year. She did not want to make 
the /mistake of letting him feel that she was 
‘^hard on ” these girls, from whom she longed to 
shield him, and thus to lead him to set himself 
up as their champion, though only in thought. 


98 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


'^Well, dear lad/’ she said after a moment, 
“if it adds to your pleasure you shall — or Nan 
shall — ^ask the Brower girls. But I much prefer 
the type of girl which the fragrant old word 
‘maidenly’ suits. You will, too, when you’ve 
seen enough of life to realize its value.” 

“I’ll bet you’ll like them, Ailsa; they’re good 
and lively, always doing something — like you,” 
said Dins, somewhat embarrassed by his easy 
victory. 

“They’re no more like Ailsa than — ^than — 
than a jumping jack’s like mercury ! ” cried Nan, 
and they all laughed. 

“The party being decided upon, I want to 
decide something else, Molly-Mary,” said Ailsa, 
not attempting to discuss the girls whom she 
had not seen, but considerably interested in this 
introduction of their names. “ I want a regular 
treaty drawn up, a — ^what would you call it? 
A declaration of rights. I want certain duties 
to do every single day, so you won’t have so much 
and can count on me. Now will you appoint 
me to some office in this household? The girls 
say I organize. We’ve got the musical, the 
Hit-or-Miss Club started, and we’re going to 
get right at rehearsing for the play, soon as we 
find the play, that is! Now, I want to organize 
a relief corps to help you with all you have to do 
— the Molly-Mary Relief Corps.” 

“Sounds almost too much like that old Molly 
Maguire horror which terrorized a part of Penn- 
sylvania forty years ago,” Mrs. Brett said. 
“But we won’t bother about the name, since 


ENTHUSIASMS 


99 


Shakespeare has said names do not matter — 
though we know they do! Very well, Ailsa; 
we'll draw up our articles of federation this 
instant-minute! I've no sort of idea what 
appointment to give you, but you, Nan and I 
can solve the problem. Pull your chairs up to 
the table, pass me that pad and pencil, please, 
Gussette dearie. Now then, we'll do our best 
to distribute ojffices in the Brett republic." 

^^Then you aren't going to make out the list 
of people to ask to the party?" said Dins, linger- 
ing in the doorway. 

^ ^'Not just now. You think over the sugges- 
tions you will make and we'll do that after 
dinner," said his mother, smiling at him, a trifle 
wistfully. 

^^Back later then. By-by, mumsy." Some- 
thing in his mother's eyes drew Dins back, and 
he retraced his steps to kiss her heartily on her 
warm cheek. She returned the boy's resonant 
smack with a hard kiss on her part, wondering, 
as she often had of late, how long she could keep 
him her boy. 

The council, augmented by Tilly, hanging in 
absorbed interest over the edge of the table, and 
Gussie, releasing Peggy and Middy to sit on the 
arm of her mother's chair, at last decided, after 
discussions and rejections of plans, where in the 
household economy Ailsa would be most useful. 

The care of her own room was an obvious 
beginning, but not nearly enough to satisfy 
Ailsa's ambition. Nan relinquished the dining 
room to her, seeing that it appealed to Ailsa's 


100 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


taste, taking the care of Din’s room instead, 
keeping her task of daily setting the drawing 
room in order. Ailsa assumed Timmy’s room. 
Tilly scornfully rejected offer of help with her 
own room. 

guess when I’m ten years old I can keep 
Gussie’s and my room picked up, if I wantto,” 
she said. used to hate being orderly, but 
last year I found out you had a worse time in the 
end if you didn’t pick up, so now I do.” 

Tilly is a scamp, but she’s a philosopher 
beneath it all,” laughed her mother. ^^Now, 
Ailsa, do you feel better that you have every- 
thing planned and all but a time table made out? 
Because I see Mona coming this way, and that 
means no more solemn consultation just now.” 

I feel much better, Molly-Mary,” said Ailsa, 
wi th one of her swift kisses. And I mean to be 
faithful every day. It will do me tons of good; 
I don’t know much about sensible things. Hello, 
Mona!” 

Mona came in, fresh and pretty, with her 
cheeks pink from the tingling November wind. 
Nan noticed — she had noticed it before, though 
trying not to — that Mona looked first at Ailsa 
when she entered, and at her second. There 
was no doubt that Mona admired Ailsa greatly. 
Well, and so did Nan ! Nan told herself that she 
loved them both so devotedly, though so differ- 
ently, that there never was an34hing so fortunate 
as that they began to care for each other. Being 
delighted with this happy state of things, it 
stood to reason that the slight sense of depres- 


ENTHUSIASMS 


101 


sioD, of almost a physical pain, that seemed to 
come over Nan when Monads eager eyes sought 
Ailsa first, was wholly imaginary. 

Oh, Ailsa, did you find a play? ” cried Mona. 
She checked herself in an intention to cross the 
room to Ailsa and turned to Nan. Hello, 
Nannie-nice!” she cried and threw her arm 
around Nan. 

Nan^s face cleared. Hello, Mona-mine!” 
she retorted, these being the two pet names they 
had devised for each other. They seemed to 
prove that Mona would always love Nan best. 

‘^No, I — we havenT found a play,” said 
Ailsa. ^^We havenT looked for one. Nan aod 
Dins and I talked it over last night, but we didn’ t 
know of any. We ought not to try anything 
too hard.” 

^'Kit writes,” observed Mona suggestively. 
'^She makes up fine stories; Nan knows.” 

Could she write a play, do you mean that?” 
asked Ailsa. 

thought you and she could, maybe,” said 
Mona. know you could do anything. You 
could take some plot you liked, out of an old 
play or a book, and fit the characters into it. 
Then theyM all be exactly what the actors 
wanted to play, because you^d put in what each 
one wanted. Kit and I were talking about it 
to Ham and Gid, and weTe all as set as fate 
about what we’ll do and what we won’t do — ^the 
^wonH^ do is the worst of it! I believe the only 
way you can make it go is to write a play for us. 


102 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Kit said she^d try, if you w'ould — -we^d all help, 
advise, you koow.” 

Mrs. Brett joined in Nan and Ailsa^s laugh; 
Mona laughed with them, but she looked 
anxious. “I suppose you think that would be 
easy!” Ailsa cried. can see us getting mad 
and disgusted! It would be like fishing charac- 
ters out of a rag-bag and letting everyone cut 
and snip the pieces. They’d all have to come 
and try on their characters and they wouldn’t 
fit. How we’d have to take in here, and let out 
there, sew a ruffle on this shirt, and cut a piece 
off that coat, and in the end nobody would think 
what they got was becoming to them! Yet it 
would be rather interesting, and it would look 
great on the programmes to say: This play is 
the joint work of the Gifted Young Actresses, 
Miss Flanders and Miss Ailsa Brett!” Ailsa 
half relented as the appeal to her ambition de- 
veloped in her mind. 

^^Will you try? Will you?” cried Mona, 
seeing this. 

“That’s got to be thought over,” said Ailsa 
wisely, but Nan knew by the far-off look in her 
eyes that the idea was taking root in Ailsa; she 
felt herself measured for a part on the spot. 

“You could write a splendid play, Ailsa,” Nan 
began, but Tilly interrupted. 

“ If you do write a play and don’t write a part 
for me — and Jim — ^I’ll never forgive you,” she 
cried. “It’s as easy as nothing at all to stick 
us all in, if you’re making up a play, and I want 
to act.” 


ENTHUSIASMS 


103 


I promise, Tilly-Pilly,^’ cried Ailsa. Mona, 
we’re to have a Thanksgiving party, Nan and I. 
Everybody is to come as a pumpkin. We’ve 
got to attend to that first of all.” 

^^To their coming as a pumpkin? What do 
you mean by that, anyway?” cried Mona. 

Ailsa and Nan explained in unison and anti- 
phonally, rapidly, with many gestures. 

^^Come around to-night and help us make out 
our list,” Nan ended, when all had been told. 

“What a scrumptious party!” cried Mona. 
“Who thought of it? Ailsa, I’m sure. Yes, 
I’ll come. We can talk play, too.” 

“Ailsa thought of it,” said Nan. “It’s to 
celebrate my birthday, you see.” 

“Oh, that’s so! Thanksgiving is on your 
birthday this year. Ailsa, you’re the greatest, 
the very greatest for a little thing I ever saw!” 
Mona declared. “No wonder Kit and I said 
you could write a play! You’re on the jump 
every minute, your brains, are.” 

“I don’t want brains like a hop toad,” said 
Ailsa. “Stop throwing bouquets at me, Mona 
Chapman! I’ll get so conceited nobody can 
stand me. My blessed yellow room told me 
about the pumpkin party, I think. Mercy, I 
haven’t been upstairs since breakfast to put it 
in order! Here’s another scheme, Mona! Nan 
and I are going to have regular domestic duties, 
daily ones. Nan always did have, but I’m no 
more good about a house than a feather would 
be — ^and I hope to be as good as a feather 
duster!” Ailsa laughed at herself. “I want to 


104 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


learn to help my Molly-Mary. She’s gone: I 
never noticed she had left the room, did you, 
Nan? Come up stairs, both of you. Nan and 
I must begin to keep our pledge; we’ve drawn up 
a regular time-table of morning tasks.” 

Ailsa jumped up and ran off, followed by Nan 
and Mona. Isn’t it lovely to see Ailsa, so 
pretty, so clever, so awfully clever, caring about 
plain things this way? ” Mona whispered to Nan. 

^^Ailsa’s a perfect trump,” Nan said. 
love her dearly. It’s because she is clever that 
she sees it’s good to know how to do things at 
home, and to help mumsy.” 

Nan went on to her own room, but Mona 
paused at Ailsa’s open door. It was easy to see 
that Ailsa fascinated her, that Nan was, at 
least while the novelty of Ailsa held, less inter- 
esting to her. Nan could not help minding it 
that Mona hung, charmed, around the yellow 
room while she shook up her pillows, uncom- 
panioned. 

^^This is a dear room; I saw it when they were 
getting it ready for you, only we had no idea Mrs. 
Brett meant it for you. We had no idea you 
were you, in the first place! Isn’t Mrs. Brett 
not only a peach, but a whole orchard of choice 
fruit?” 

Mona had wandered to the dresser and was 
examining Ailsa’s belongings. 

^'I think Molly-Mary, Mrs. Augustus Brett, 
my sister-in-law, is not only just about perfect, 
but she’s the most lovable woman in the world,” 
declared Ailsa. ^^If you’re going to stay here, 


ENTHUSIASMS 


105 


Mona, I wish you’d go behind the bed and help 
the chambermaid. I hate to make two trips, 
one to each side of the bed, and have only one 
blanket on after I get through!” 

Mona laughed and did as she was asked. All 
the Renwyck young people love to come here,” 
she said. ^^You see they treat us respectfully, 
have fun with us, leave us to do what we like, 
talk to us and listen to what we think about 
things, politics or anything. It isn’t only Mrs. 
Brett; it’s your brother, too, Ailsa.” 

1 know,” agreed Ailsa. “ I had no idea Gus 
was so nice! I mean I thought he’d be older 
acting, more formal. He’s the nicest of my 
brothers, and that’s the truth. You might 
hand me that pillow, if you will, and I’ll plump 
it and put it on ; then I’m through.” 

Mona complied, then drifted back to the 
dresser. She took up a photograph in a silver 
frame, the photograph of a handsome woman 
in evening dress, slightly leaning against a 
window casement, pushing back the curtain with 
her gloved hand. 

^^What a beauty, Ailsa! And what a per- 
fectly beautiful gown? Is it some famous 
person?” asked Mona. 

^^No, not if you mean a publicly famous per- 
son; everybody isn’t known to the public who 
ought to be. I suppose this lady will be when 
I’ve helped write that play,” laughed Ailsa. 

That’s my mother.” 

Truly? Ailsa, isn’t she handsome! Isn’t 


106 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


she very splendid! Don^t you love to have her 
look like that?^’ cried Mona. 

“Yes, and I love to have that look like her, 
as it^s her picture,” laughed Ailsa. “Of course 
I love to have her handsome; she certainly is 
handsome, too. I don’t see why you ought not 
to say your own mother’s a beauty, if she is one.” 

“It must be like living in the house with a 
princess to have a mother like that,” Mona went 
on, still gazing at the picture. 

“Oh, she doesn’t wear evening gowns to 
breakfast; she isn’t always so princessfied. But 
she is always a beauty. She’s tall, graceful ; I’m 
not one bit like her.” Ailsa was looking over 
Mona’s shoulder by this time. 

“How you must miss her! And how terribly 
she must miss you!” sighed Mona. 

Ailsa’s face changed. “My mother is busy, 
Mona; she does so many, many things, and she 
is out a great deal. I don’t honestly think she 
minds my being away; she knows she could call 
me back any time. When my brothers and sis- 
ters were my age she was not able to do what 
she liked best. She got more than she wanted 
of sitting at home with children. She is rather 
young still and there’s no one but me left, so 
she can do what she likes. She likes best to 
belong to no end of things and to go out all the 
time, so she does it. And I don’t think she 
misses me in the least.” 

“Anyone would miss you that ever had you 
around,” said Mona fervently, setting the pic- 
ture back on the dresser. “I’d rather have the 


ENTHUSIASMS 107 

Renwyck way of being mothers. That isn't 
much like Mrs. Brett, is it? " 

‘‘Not like Mrs. Augustus Brett; my mother 
is Mrs. Brett," said AiJsa, with a crooked little 
smile. ^^Molly-Mary wouldn't care for all the 
kingdoms of the earth if one of her children had 
a bad toothache. You see I never learned any- 
thing about home-making, but Molly-Mary is 
going to show me lots of things; I saw that 
almost at once." 

What a dear girl you are, Ailsa ! " said Mona, 
smiling at Ailsa in the glass and swinging around 
to catch her by the shoulders in the flesh. 
wish you'd like me best of the girls. I wish 
you'd let me be your best friend in Renwyck." 
^^Nan?" suggested Ailsa. 

You mean next to Nan? Of course she has 
first place, but she is almost like your sister. 
Or did you mean I am Nan's best friend? But 
can't I be two girls' best friend? " asked Mona. 

meant Nan would be first to me, but, as 
you say, she's in the family. Certainly you can 
be two girls' best friend! It made me think 
most about you in the first place, because Nan 
was so fond of you and talked about you so 
much. I shouldn't be one bit surprised if you 
were my best friend, too!" Ailsa's hearty tone 
and smile did away with the doubt conveyed 
by her form of expression. 

Mona hugged her forcibly. ^^If you knew 
how glad I'd be!" she cried. 

^^I wonder what Nan's doing?" hinted Ailsa, 


108 THE LITTLE AUNT 

with sudden conapunction. She’s in there 
alone.” 

^^She knows I’ve seen her room always. I’ll 
go after her,” said Mona. 

She ran across the hall. Nan was dusting 
and humming, her cheeks were red, her welcom- 
ing smile somewhat strained. 

Isn’t Ailsa’s mother handsome? Your aunt 
— ^your What is she?” said Mona. 

^^My step-grandmother. She looks younger 
than mumsy, but dear mumsy never is gowned 
like that,” said Nan. ^^Sit there, Mona, or I’ll 
brush you up and throw you away.” 

^^You wouldn’t throw your Mona away, 
Nannie-nice, not even if she did not weigh a 
hundred and seventeen and a quarter pounds 
and if you could sweep her up,” said Mona 
wisely. 

Nan’s eyes brightened, she laughed. How 
foolish she was to mind being left alone for 
awhile! Naturally Mona liked to browse over 
a new girl’s belongings, and if Mona found Ailsa 
irresistible, so, for that matter, did Nan. 

‘H’ll never throw you away, no matter how 
much or how little you weigh, nor what you do, 
Mona-mine!” she cried, with her own cheery 
laugh. 

You’re a sweet thing. Nan Brett, and no- 
body’s sweeter!” declared Mona sincerely. 

She had seen Nan’s cloud and appreciated the 
speed with which it rolled away at a kindly touch 
from the hand that Nan loved best. 

Nan shook her head. ^^That isn’t true, but 


ENTHUSIASMS 


109 


I like to have you think it is, Mona,’’ she said. 

“I guess I’ve known you long enough to 
know!’’ said Mona. ^‘When you and Ailsa get 
through your tasks you’re coining down town 
with me to get ice cream. Hurry up! It’s all 
very well for you, who aren’t in school this year, 
but I can’t lose all my Saturday forenoon waiting 
for you to get through being good.” 

^^We don’t mean to get through being good, 
Mona,” laughed Nan, entirely her radiant self 
now. Ailsa is so enthusiastic about helping 
mumsy! She’s one bunch of enthusiasm about 
all sorts of things. It’s like being a little dummy 
car attached to an electric engine to keep up with 
her.” 

That’s what makes her so perfectly fascina- 
ting, that and her pretty, changeable face and 

her ways, her voice ” 

^^Her Ailsa Brettishness,” Nan interrupted 
Mona. ^^You needn’t praise her to her niece, 
Mona! I^an’t admire her any more than I do, 
unless I grow ten times taller and broader to 
have room for it.” 

Speaking of enthusiasm!” said Mona sug- 
gestively. 


Chapter VII 

^^SOME PUMPKINS 

^^Twenty-five people are as many as we can 
make perfectly comfortable; thirty as many as 
can get on well ; thirty-five is our limit ; how many 
shall we ask?’^ said Mrs. Brett looking up from 
her pad with a smile. She had written: ^^To 
Invite,” at the head of her page, Grateful 
Party” below that, and had drawn an inclosing 
border of pumpkins down both sides of the 
white sheet. 

Gathered around the table with her were all 
the children, Ailsa, Mona and Kit, Ham and 
Gid, all eager to suggest and to amend other 
people’s suggestions, for the Grateful Party, in 
pumpkin costumes, with which Thanksgiving 
Day and Nan’s birthday were to be celebrated 
together. As usual in the evening, Mr. Brett 
lounged with his pipe and a book, reading a 
little, smoking a little, enjoying and entering 
into whatever was going on a great deal. 

‘^Invite forty,” said Dins promptly. ^^We 
can always give a good time to ten more than 
can get on well, and five more than our limit.” 

We want a pumpkin party, not a squash one, 
Dins,” said Nan, and was applauded on the 
instant. 

^^I say ask no more than thirty-five; our Brett 
children, including Mr. Augustus Brett and 


^^SOME PUMPKINS” 


111 


Mary, his wife, bring it up to forty-three, and 
I^m afraid with that we shall have to train some 
of the pumpkins on the wall,” Nan went on. 

^^Not a bit of it! Besides, some of the in- 
vited will be Thanksgiving-dining off somewhere, 
probably, so won't come,” said Gid. ^^This 
house always has room enough.” 

^^The one thing I ask — ^and I'd say command 
if it sounded nice and gentle — is that you won't 
say anything in the invitation about it's being 
my birthday ! I don 't want people to think they 
must bring me a gift, especially those we don't 
know well enough for them to know it's my 
birthday without being told,” said Nan earn- 
estly. 

‘^No fear of that, if I've a hand in the invita- 
tions, Nannie,” Mrs. Brett said. We'll know 
that we are especially grateful on Thanksgiving 
Day this year because the date of your birth 
falls on it, but we won't seem to levy tribute to 
you.” 

‘^It Is to be thirty-five, then?” asked Ailsa, 
anxious to bring the discussion back to the im- 
port an t con sideration . 

“Yes, all right,” Dins yielded the point. 
“We'll call them off, and mumsy shall set them 
down.” 

The names rattled thick and fast for three 
minutes, so fast that Mrs. Brett could not keep 
up with the suggestions. It is always easy to 
begin to select guests, especially in a town as 
small as Renwyck, where there are sure to be 
certain ones invariably included in one another's 


112 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


good times. After this rapid start suggestions 
dropped slowly from one and then another; 
these were the names of the girls and boys partly 
desired, partly not, from whom choice to make 
up the number was less easy. 

We were going to ask the Brower girls; there 
are four of them,’’ said Dins, who had been 
waiting for someone else to remember this. 

Nan had remembered it, but she hoped that 
Dins had decided to forget that his mother had 
reluctantly consented to these girls, for whom 
she did not care, being invited. 

Ham and Gid looked up quickly. Are they 
to be asked? ” cried Ham. That’s good; they’d 
wake up any party.” 

‘^They’re not Nan’s sort,” said Gid, who con- 
sidered gentle Nan the prettiest and sweetest 
of girls. 

They’re all right,” said Dins. Please, 
mums, write next Bessie, Irma, Heine and 
Billie Brower.” 

^^The youngest one is really named Cora, isn’t 
she? She is a year younger than Nan. The 
oldest one must be a great deal older than you 
children,” Mrs. Brett permitted herself to say 
as she set down the sisters’ names, according to 
her promise. 

That’s why it’s so awfully nice of them to be 
willing to go to a younger set’s party and to be 
so nice to we juniors. The Bower girls — ^Bessie 
must be about twenty and she never snubs boys 
of our age. They don’t seem a minute older 
than Nan, not even Bess and Irma,” said Dins, 


‘‘SOME PUMPKINS’^ 113 

ready to champion these girls against his 
mother^s unspoken prejudice. 

Mr. Brett unexpectedly laid down his book 
and took his pipe from his lips. 

“If you are asking a lot of youngsters, enough 
to prove an invitation doesn’t mean much, I 
don’t mind your including the Brower girls, but 
I don’t want you to strike up any real acquaint- 
ance with them,” he said. 

Dins looked up with a frown. “ They’re only 
cut-ups,” he said. 

“They’re nice, jolly girls, Mr. Brett,” Ham 
seconded him. 

“There are ways and other ways of being 
jolly and cutting up. When you are guardians 
of youth, in your turn, you’ll object to some girls 
of a second generation who are lively in the 
Browers’ ways,” said Mr. Brett tersely, resum- 
ing his pipe and book to indicate that the dis- 
cussion was closed. 

“Well, I don’t like them; they’re pleasant, but 
I know they’re laughing at me. All they care 
for is to have something going on. I always feel 
as if they said to one another: What is that 
kid out alone for? They make fun of everyone 
and laugh at everything, and I don’t think 
everything in the world is funny, though we 
Bretts are such laughers — ^not at everything, 
though! ” announced Nan , with unusual decision. 

“But they’re to be asked, so what’s the use? 
How many does that make, mumsy?” 

“Thirty-two,” said Mrs. Brett, looking upfrom 
counting her list with a smile of hearty approval 


114 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


for sensible Nan. “Don’t you think we’d 
better stop there? As Nan suggested, it will be 
a squash, instead of a pumpkin party!” 

“All right; call it ofif with that,” approved 
Dins. “You’ve got to write the invitations and 
give a hint how the costumes are to be made, or 
they won’t all be alike. I think we ought to 
furnish each guest with a cut paper pattern and 
a water color sketch of how the costume ought 
to look when done, like one of these awful long, 
slippery, heavy women’s magazines.” 

“I don’t know a single long, slippery heavy 
woman. Dins! ” Mr. Brett quietly remarked, out 
of his apparent absorption in his book. “Look 
out where you put your adjectives and nouns, 
my boy.” 

“We are going to make a sketch of the cos- 
tume design on every invitation, and we’ve got 
to write a note explaining that each guest is to 
carry the best representation he-she can make 
of the thing he-she’s had this year to be most 
grateful for. Mercy, doesn’t English need 
another pronoun!” sighed Ailsa. 

“I’m glad I don’t have to come in on getting 
up those invitations!” Dins said, pushing back 
his chair. “If you’ve got to furnish designs 
and instructions for this party you’ll have a 
large-sized job. I wouldn’t ask anyone but 
Mona, Kit and these two pagans, who know all 
about it from the start.” He slapped Ham and 
Gid and bade them: “Come on!” getting out 
the Flinch cards for a game while the feminine 
portion of the committee bent to the task of 


‘‘SOME PUMPKINS’^ 


115 


frammg the invitations and making the sketch 
of the costume, which all the guests were to wear 
uniformly. 

It took some time to word the invitations so 
that their meaning was clear as to the require- 
ments of costume and symbols and yet not make 
them too long. But Kit was really clever at 
drawing and she sketched an attractive little 
figure after Ailsa’s description of the costume, 
which was to be copied in water color at the 
head of each invitation. 

Only a few of the invitations to this curiosity 
inspiring party were declined; almost everyone 
asked was at home for Thanksgiving. Renwyck 
was humming with speculation as to the sort of 
party the Bretts would make of it, at least the 
younger part of Renwyck thus hummed, and 
was eager to accept the invitation. 

Mrs. Brett and Amanda baked minature 
Thanksgiving pies for two days before the party 
and the day immediately before it everybody in 
the house turned into the kitchen to help pre- 
pare turkey for sandwiches and do all else that 
could be done the day before. 

It was a lucky thing that Amanda was as 
patiently sweet tempered as she was, for pan- 
demonium reigned in her kitchen. It was a 
large family for which to prepare a Thanks- 
giving dinner and this had to be done, besides 
all the work for the party. 

“We wonT have too much for dinner,’’ Mrs. 
Brett said. “There must be a boundary set to 


116 THE LITTLE AUNT 

our ambition. We’ll do our best at Christmas, 
instead.” 

^^You can’t have too much, mumsy,” said 
Jimmy, in all seriousness, and raised a laugh. 

Nan’s presents from her family were around 
her plate at breakfast, as they always were 
placed on her birthday. She tried not to feel 
disappointed that there was none from one of 
her friends. Then she grew suspicious. 

You don’t suppose Mona and Kit are telling 
the rest that it is my birthday, do you?” she 
cried, really troubled by the idea. ‘^Mona and 
Kit haven’t sent me so much as a card, and they 
never forget. I wonder if they are going to play 
a trick on me!” 

I don’t believe I’d worry; it won’t be a bomb, 
a dynamite plot whatever it is,” advised Dins. 

Dinner was at two that day, to allow plenty 
of time for the final preparations for the party. 
Ailsa had designed the decorations, which were 
mainly corn husks! But no one would have 
believed that they could be so pretty. Ailsa 
had directed her assistants. Dins, Ham, Gid, 
Nan, Mona, Kit, Tilly and Jimmy, and they had 
turned the large parlors of the rambling Brett 
house into a cornfield, or the suggestion of one. 
The corn husks were stacked against the walls 
and in the corners, held in place by straps of 
cloth that matched them, fastened by thumb 
tacks which did no harm to the walls. Yellow 
Japanese lanterns, alternated with green ones, 
were hung as close together as was safe to 
furnish the light, instead of electricity or the 


^^SOME PUMPKINS’^ 


117 


gas. Full ears of golden corn were hung on the 
picture wires and down the window casements 
and a lemonade stand of pumpkins was built in 
a corner of the dining room, a pyramid sur- 
mounted by a giant of a pumpkin, hollowed out 
and the lemonade bowl fitted inside of it. This 
was Dins^ idea and he was inordinately proud of 
it; it was really a triumph from every viewpoint. 
Ailsa had suggested that the cups to serve the 
lemonade from this bucolic fountain should be 
parafine cups, decorated with Thanksgiving 
emblems. She and Kit did the decorating in 
rapid strokes of oil paints, which would stand 
wetting. They were gorgeous to behold, and 
perfected the pumpkin drinking fountain. 

Mr. Brett had engaged the Renwyck Quar- 
tette to play for dancing; two violins, a flute and 
the piano constituted the quartette, which 
always played with spirit and in perfect time. 
A screen of com husks and ears of corn shut the 
musicians from sight. 

^'They may think the music is the wind blow- 
ing through the corn field, if they don’t see 
them,” suggested Nan poetically, referring to 
her guests and to the musicians, but not stop- 
ping to disentangle them in her sentence. 

Tilly was to be allowed to stay up till the 
party was over, she and Jimmy, and they were 
both wild with joy over this, their first real 
dissipation. 

There was not time to waste over a properly 
served supper, nor need for one after a Thanks- 
giving dinner, with a party supper to come, so 


118 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


by seven o’clock the Bretts, young and old, 
drew a collective long breath, surveying the 
preparations with satisfaction, and repaired to 
their several chambers to make their pumpkin 
toilets; only Mr. and Mrs. Brett were to appear 
in their proper persons. 

Two maids who had been hired to help good 
Amanda opened the door and attended the girl- 
pumpkins in the dressing room. Ailsa and the 
Bretts were all keeping close in order to slip in 
with their guests and let their identity be guessed 
with the rest. 

The maid in the dressing room checked 
wraps, for when they were removed everybody 
was already in the pumpkin disguise and there 
would have been no other way of distinguishing 
one owner from another. Gradually the fifteen 
girls assembled and the same number of boys 
were in the other room, all similarly attired. 
There was to be a March of the Pumpkins” 
when the music sounded from below; for this 
the giggling pumpkins waited on the second 
floor. 

Mrs. Brett came up and counted; there were 
thirty-five ^‘pumpkins” waiting; the thirty 
guests who had accepted the invitation and her 
own five young people were evidently all there. 

She disappeared and in a moment there came 
the signal of several chords of music ; the pump- 
kins” got into line. Then the march rang out, 
gay, bright, enlivening, and all the ^'pump- 
kins” moved down the stairs. 

It really was a sight worth seeing. Mr. and 


^‘SOME PUMPKINS’ 


119 


Mrs. Brett, stationed in the drawing room door- 
way to receive the guests formally, were quite 
convulsed with laughter and saw that the 
success of the party surpassed their hopes. 
Every one of the pairs passing them with a deep 
bow, was dressed alike in a yellow domino, with 
a jack-o’ lantern-like mask of white cloth, their 
heads surmounted with a round cap ending in 
an erect stalk of twisted green, for all the world 
like the stem of a pumpkin. Hands were all 
encased in yellow cotton gloves, and every pair 
carried the emblem of the gift its owner had re- 
ceived that year for which the greatest gratitude 
should be felt that Thanksgiving Day. So far 
so good; this was but carrying out the pro- 
gramme. But everybody held something else 
conspicuously mounted above the emblem and 
here was where the guests scored by adding to 
the plan of the givers of the party. For every- 
one in line carried a little picture of Nan! 

This was Ham^s secret. He had had painted 
enough copies of a recent small photograph that 
Nan had taken to supply everyone of the pump- 
kins. So all her guests were mutely saying to 
Nan that whatever else they were grateful for 
that year, she, whose birthday it was, counted 
among their best gifts. It was a pretty idea 
and a good joke, too, for it left the Bretts easily 
identified, since they alone held no picture. 

When all the funny pumpkin-costumed com- 
pany was in the room and continued the march 
amid the corn decorations, the effect was as 
pretty and droll as Ailsa had dreamed it. The 


120 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


lanteiDS shed a golden light, with deep shadows 
where it did not penetrate, and the whole effect 
was like sonaething seen in sleep. 

Nan discovered that at a signal from one of 
the pumpkins’’ each couple that passed a 
certain niche, where stood a statue which Ailsa 
had draped with a bright Roman blanket, and 
had given a sheaf of wheat and a great label 
across its breast, marked Ceres,” paused and 
laid a package at the goddess’ feet — ^the god- 
dess, ” which was really Praxiteles’ Faun, con- 
verted. ^^They’ve been told!” thought Nan, 
not a little sorry, yet naturally excited and eager 
to see what such a quantity of gifts would be. 
She could not creep up to look without betray- 
ing who she was, so she kept her place in the 
line. The musicians suddenly broke into a two- 
step that sent all the pumpkins seeking a mate 
and dancing at top speed. 

Dance after dance followed, without a pause, 
till it was half past nine and Mrs. Brett knew 
that the pumpkins” must be melting away 
behind their masks. 

Please form a line around the room. I’m to 
collect all the guesses as to what the emblems 
represent and who each pumpkin is. Then we’ll 
unmask and have the supper, and after it prizes 
and dancing, with a breath of air on your poor 
faces!” she announced. 

The pumpkins applauded and Mrs. Brett 
rapidly collected the papers with which each 
guest was provided. Every pumpkin was num- 
bered, each paper was numbered, so that the 


‘‘SOME PUMPKINS’’ 


121 


guesses were both recorded and identified by 
the number of each person. Some of the sym- 
bols of the gifts that the year had brought were 
easily guessed by those who knew the history of 
certain events. For instance, Dins carried a 
scroll, representing a diploma. His friends knew 
that he had skipped a year at school and 
would graduate the following June — ^not hard 
to guess what his roll symbolized, nor who car- 
ried it, for Dinsmore was elated over this pros- 
pect. 

Mona carried a baby doll. Everybody knew 
she was “crazy over” her sister’s new baby, so 
Mona was easily guessed. 

Ailsa wore a group photograph of the Brett 
family, for she was most grateful that this year 
had made known to her this branch of her 
family. That was easily guessed, also. Some 
things were not so easy. A pen balked most 
guessers who did not know that its wearer had 
won a prize by her little story, sent to a small 
paper. 

A sheet of music carried by one girl meant 
that she had been told that she had a voice 
and would one day sing. A ledger meant that a 
boy had at last won his father’s consent to go 
straight into business when he left school, 
omitting college, which he despised. So it 
went, a bright little collection of objects an- 
nouncing various causes of gratitude. Nan 
wore the letters “A.B.”on her domino sleeve, 
which did not stand in this case for Bachelor of 
Arts, nor that she had taken a degree, but that 


122 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


she was most thankful for the yearns gift of 
Ailsa Brett just as Ailsa announced that she 
was most grateful for her brother's family. Tilly, 
who was nothing if not original, puzzled every- 
body by carrying a pound weight from the 
kitchen scale. Nobody but Nan could guess it, 
but she knew that Tilly had gained a pound in 
weight and was deeply thankful for it. 

They made a kind of cotillion figure of the 
unmasking. The pumpkins danced into the 
center of the room and clasped left hands held 
high in the air, boys on the outside, girls inside 
of the ring, facing in opposite directions. Then 
the quartette played a minuet to which the 
great double circle moved slowly around. At 
the final pause and sweep of the music, right 
hands came up with a gesture, following a 
leader, and tore from each face the concealing 
jack-o^-lantern mask. Then, after a minute of 
clapping, each boy gave his arm to the girl whose 
left hand he held and fell into line for the supper 
march. 

The supper was a joy to look upon, but it was 
a greater joy to eat. 

“How I can be hungry I do not see!’’ cried 
Ailsa, “after that Thanksgiving dinner, but 
hungry I am. Starved!” 

“Samehere!” cried Giddy, piling Ailsa’ s plate, 
partly through a desire to serve her, partly to 
hurry to get at his own supper; he had taken 
Ailsa out. 

“Aren’t we funny?” cried Ailsa, looking 


^‘SOME PUMPKINS” J23 

around the table with much satisfaction. For 
was not this party her own invention? 

^^It^s the best ever!” cried a girl across from 
AiJsa. 

Ailsa looked over, she did not know her, from 
which fact she partly identified her. 

“Are you a Brower girl? I know all the 
others, so I think you must be a Miss Brower,” 
Ailsa said. 

“Ob, cut it out!” cried the girl with a jolly 
laugh. “Miss Brower! You^re Ailsa Brett and 
I shall call you Ailsa. Nobody ever calls one 
of the Brower girls Miss! I’m the third one, 
Reine. That’s Bess, the oldest — -we’re all one 
age, though! — ^’way at the other end. Irma, 
second Brower, is below you on that side. Bill, 
the youngest — came near being a left Brower! — 
is with your brother Dins, who wishes she was 
Bess. All the boys wish either of the others was 
Bess when they catch us in a shuffle like the one 
in the other room.” 

Ailsa laughed, but did not wholly like this 
ready freedom and such a long history across the 
table. But the girl, though she was not in the 
least pretty, had a certain sort of jolly assurance, 
as if she knew she would be admired, that went 
a long way toward achieving her end. Ailsa 
liked her though she did not quite approve her. 

“No wonder you headed your invitations 
^Some Pumpkins!’ ” Reine Brower went on. 
“It’s that in both senses. Dandy party, awful 
pretty and chipper!” She jumped up and came 
around the table, carrying her plate. “ Not good 


124 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


manners, but everything goes she said. Giddy 
Davis, run around there and take my place; I 
want to sit next Ailsa and get acquainted. We 
don’t have to sit sandwich, boy, then girl; it 
isn’t like a dinner party. Run along, kid. Ailsa, 
you’re a magnet!” 

Ailsa looked confused, half pleased, half dis- 
pleased. Reine’s manner was so hearty, so 
frank, so apparently unstudied, that friendly 
Ailsa felt ashamed to criticize it in her thoughts. 
She could not guess, being a single minded, 
genuine youhg girl, that the Brower girls had 
decided that Ailsa Brett was to be what they 
called ^^a drawing card” that winter, and that 
it would profit them to gain her intimacy, if 
they could. She was a stranger and might 
fancy them. If she did she would bring them 
good times. Young as they were the Brower 
girls were keen to serve their own interests. 
The Renwyck fathers and mothers, the people 
best worth knowing, did not encourage their 
acquaintance. Before they had come to this 
party the Brower girls had decided to culti- 
vate” Ailsa Brett. Now that they saw her so 
pretty, lively, attractive to boys and girls 
equaUy, they were strengthened in their pur- 
pose. 

“ I’m glad you like the party. It’s funny, but 
it is pretty, too,” Ailsa said. ^‘No one could 
be sure just how it would turn out.” 

‘‘ It’s the best ever 1” declared Reine. Invent 
a party for us to give! If only we have a cold 


^‘SOME PUMPKINS’^ 125 

winter! We girls want to get up an ice 
carnival. Do you love out doors things?^’ 

'^Yes, of course/' said Ailsa. love aU 
kinds of things, in and out, that are fun." 

Right-oh !" laughed Reine Brower. You're 
a good sport; I see that! I don't believe any 
other young people in Renwyck have the good 
times we do. You help us have them, and we'U 
share our last scrap — of fun — ^with you. Giddy 
Davis would like to share a scrap with me this 
minute, only it wouldn't be a scrap of fun ! Isn't 
he ripping!" She leaned across the table. 

Never mind, Gid! Begenerous. You've known 
Ailsa all this time; let me get acquainted with 
her." 

Mrs. Brett came up to this group, making a 
round of the tables to see that no one lacked 
anything. 

‘^Everybody is ready to go into the other 
room, Ailsa," she said. ^^You must lead in 
the return march, and. Nan, and you are to 
distribute the prizes." 

In some unexplained way the rest of the even- 
ing the Browers came to the fore. Bess Brower 
won the first prize in the guessing contest. 
Irma and Billie — Cora — ^Brower sang a duet 
from the latest light opera, with a dance between 
stanzas that all the boys applauded wildly and 
the girls, too; some of them with keen enjoy- 
ment, some of them, of whom Nan was one, 
wondering why she did not like it, while she 
sincerely applauded it. Reine danced a solo 
dance, and made it pretty, in spite of her yellow 


126 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


domino. The pumpkin costumes, without the 
masks, were worn all. the evening. Dins was 
enraptured with the doings of these lively girls 
and looked triumphantly at his mother, as if to 
remind her that their presence was his doing. 
Reine devoted herself to Ailsa so tactfully, she 
was so keenly observant of Ailsa^s degrees of 
responsiveness, that before the party was over 
Ailsa yielded her something like friendship. 

To crown it all the Brower girls suggested a 
new dance appropriate to the day, ^^A Turkey 
Chase,’^ they called it. A solo dancer led, and 
all the others, dancing in pairs, followed every 
motion of the ^Hurkey^’ and finally caught and 
encircled her in a rapid whirl that was to repre- 
sent penning the turkey. It was great fun. 

It is time for a Virginia reel to wind up with,’^ 
cried Mona. “ It^s late. But first we must give 
Nan a good send-off into her sixteenth year. 
Nannie, youVe got a lot of birthday presents at 
the foot of that marble lady over there, who 
really is the marble faun. You canT waste time 
opening them to-night. But youVe got to 
climb up on a throne and receive a compliment 
and a wish from every pumpkin at this party. 
WeVe fixed it up among ourselves; there^s no 
way out for you.^^ 

Dins came up at that moment with a tall 
step ladder and several girls hastily tore down 
some of the corn decorations and fastened them 
on the sides of the steps. Then they all forced 
poor blushing Nan to the top. Seated there, 
one after the other of her guests came up^ to her. 


^‘SOME PUMPKINS’’ 


127 


knelt before her, paid her the naost exaggerated 
compliment that they could invent, wished her 
the most ridiculous wish for impossible things, 
and rose to make way for the next one. Before 
half a dozen had gone through this absurd per- 
formance the whole room was in a gale, and most 
of the last compliments and wishes were drowned 
in shouts of laughter. 

There was hardly enough breath left in any- 
one to dance the Virginia reel, but a Thanks- 
giving night party, a Grateful Party, and a 
birthday party, especially a party of ^^some 
Pumpkins,” could not end in any other way. 

They danced the Virginia reel in double lines 
or it would never have been finished, and at the 
end, in the final promenade, all the couples 
danced ou^ of the room, and the pumpkins” 
stumbled, warm and out of breath, up stairs, 
to don their wraps and go home from this queer 
but exceedingly merry party. 

Beats all other parties put together. I call 
this some party, as well as some pumpkins! 
You’re a peach, Ailsa; good night,” cried Reine 
Brower, in her way voicing everybody’s senti- 
ments. 


CHAPTER VIII 

JUST BEING GOOD 

A week of the worst possible weather ushered 
in December. 

^^WouldnT it be as correct to say we are 
having bad weathers, MoUy-Mary?^^ asked Ailsa. 
^^We can’t lump all the sorts of this past week 
as one weather, can we? Rain with thunder 
and lightning on Monday,” she began to enu- 
merate on her fingers. “ Sleety rain on Tuesday. 
Wind and a hope of clearing Wednesday, but a^ 
quick setting that mistake right with hail at 
night. Then a sunny day, but such wind that 
no one could walk. And now snow, and the 
weather prophet says: ‘Warmer with rain 
Saturday.’ That will probably make it muddy 
and then we shall have had all the bad things 
there are put away in the drawers of the Weather 
Bureau.” 

“Do we mind, AUie? I thought not;” hinted 
Nan, coming laughing up to put her arm 
around Ailsa. 

“Course we don’t!” agreed Ailsa promptly. 
“We’re having fine times, but only fine people 
could have them when it storms in so many 
ways, so many days, and it’s so dark and dingy 
that you have to light a match to see where the 
sky is! We are nice and domestic and happy 
together.” 


JUST BEING GOOD 


129 


like stormy days once in a while/^ said 
Mrs. Brett. ^^It is such a comfort to get out 
all the things youVe been meaning to do for 
ages, and pitch into them without a fear of being 
caught by visitors when you^re looking your 
worst, working at all these piled-up tasks. And 
some of the tasks get done, too!^' 

She pointed triumphantly to a pile of folded 
garments, mended and ready to wear. 

^^You^re getting to be such a great help 
Ailie!’^ Mrs. Brett added, smiling so warmly 
at her guest that it was easy to see that outer 
sunshine mattered less to this household than to 
most. 

I’d like to be a help, Molly-Mary, but pretty 
nearly everything I knew about it I read — -in 
Little Women, or some story. And you know 
when most girls read stories of that sort they 
never think of going and doing likewise. Queer 
thing, too, because if you read about knights 
fighting, Florence Nightingale, or something 
heroic, you are sure to wonder what there is 
splendid for you to do! And yet I enjoy a real 
home story best of all. I’d be ready to run up a 
flag pole and fly myself as a banner to the 
breeze if I thought I was any use to you— you 
dear woman! Weren’t we to mend china to- 
day?’’ asked Ailsa, her cheeks glowing from her 
sister-in-law’s word of praise. 

‘^Sure enough! I’m in that,” said Tilly, 
starting up from her prostrate position, face 
down on the couch, where she was immersed 
in a book. TiUy read, as she did everything 


130 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


else, violently, by fits and starts. just love 
to mend china.’’ 

“Clear the table, then, and help get the 
broken things together,” said Nan. 

“I thought you didn’t get the broken things 
together till you mended them,” said Jimmy. 

“Clever boy! Bring them here and put them 
together on the cleared table, then 1” cried Nan. 
“How hard it is to have to make everything 
perfectly clear to your baby brother!” 

Jimmy threw a pillow at her, ruthlessly jerk- 
ing it out from under Tilly’s elbows. “Baby 
yourself!” he said, by way of retort. Then he 
and Tilly fell upon the table and cleared it by 
the simple expedient of sweeping all the mag- 
azines and papers on the fioor, depositing all 
else on chairs. His mother made no comment 
upon this method, knowing that, after the task 
before them was done, she and the girls would 
have to set the room straight, in any case. 

“Get half a dozen old newspapers, Jimsy, to 
cover the table,” directed Mrs. Brett. “And 
Tilly, if you won’t knock down every other bottle 
in the medicine closet, you may go up and fetch 
the new bottle of cement I recently brought 
home. We’ll begin getting out the china that 
has been collecting, waiting mending for some 
time, Ailsa and Nan. You’ll think there surely 
has been a revolution in China when you see it! 
It will look like a Reign of Terror. I have been 
trying for I don’t know how long to steal a day 
to mend all the broken pieces in this house. 


JUST BEING GOOD 131 

Nan and Ailsa followed Mrs. Brett to help her 
‘Tetch and carry/^ Nan said. 

never could see through the fetching and 
carrying idea,” said Ailsa. ''Which is which? 

"It’s easy enough to see now,” said Nan. 
"Mumsy will fetch the things out and well 
carry them into the other room.” 

There were a good many articles, all told, 
which Mrs. Brett handed out from the cupboard 
for her lieutenants to carry into the hospital 
and set on the table, where they were to be 
operated upon. There was an elephant from 
Dins’ room, its back hollowed for matches, and 
this animal was minus a hind leg, now to be re- 
stored. There was a delightful squat Toby jug, 
valuable, too, that waited its handle. A loving 
cup of Old English pottery was in like plight. 
Middy, who was as lively as four months of 
living makes a kitten — ^and much more yellow 
than anything that is not an orange! — ^had 
climbed over a washstand in Tilly’s room, when 
Gussie was chasing him, the linen cover had 
slipped and Middy had come down under a 
shower of pieces of toilet set which frightened 
him almost into fragments himself, and which 
broke the cover of the soap dish, the handle of 
the small ewer, a piece out of the mug— the 
unlucky set was in fragments! The big ewer 
and the bowl had paused in their flight on the 
edge of the stand, arrested by their weight, so 
Mrs. Brett had saved the smaller pieces to mend 
when the time came. Gussie had a doll whose 
charms were invisible to all but her and whose 


132 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


broken bisque hands she had long been implor- 
ing her mother to repair. Nan^s beloved slender 
green glass vase, used as a hatpin holder, was 
suffering; it had lost a triangular piece out of 
its side which could be restored without showing 
the crack, if it was turned around on the dtesser 
and a hatpin made to lie against the line of 
cement. There was quite a congregation of 
china and glass cripples by the time the girls 
had carried into the library and set on the table 
all of the varied articles that Mrs. Brett handed 
down to them from her station on the low steps 
kept in the china closet to stand on to reach the 
shelves. Last of all, Mrs. Brett took down a 
platter of pink glazed china, broken exactly 
across the centre, at which Ailsa exclaimed: 

‘^Oh, that old-time platter! It’s just like a 
sugar bowl and teapot and a cup and saucer 
that mother has!” 

^^Has she any of it?” asked Mrs. Brett. ^^It 
was your great-grandfather’s. Augustus has 
almost the complete set. His sister, who died in 
Australia, had a little of the set, and her share 
was shipped here to us. I have often wondered 
whether the rest of the tea service was broken ; 
we have eleven cups and saucers, a hot water 
pot and cream jug. Your mother’s three pieces 
would complete it. It was a full dinner and tea 
service. It is packed away. I mean to buy a 
glass closet for this old china alone; I am very 
fond of the queer old set. It is waiting to be 
honorably and safely bestowed. We were dis- 
consolate enough when this platter fell — ^from 


JUST BEING GOOD 133 

my own hands at that! I am going to have it 
rivetted; we^ll leave it out to-day.’’ 

Mrs. Brett had talked on rather disjointedly, 
reaching up and scanning the shelf to make sure 
that there were no more broken pieces of china 
overlooked. 

Ailsa held the two parts of the old platter, 
meanwhile looking at them closely but not 
seeing them. Her thoughts were away on what 
she knew of this old china, on what its accidental 
discovery would mean. A divided duty was all 
she saw just then. She aroused herself, post- 
poning thinking it out till better time and place 
offered. With all her liveliness and love of fun 
Ailsa had been so much left to herself that when 
it came to judgment, forming opinions, she was 
both just and cautious; she did not jump at 
conclusions. 

“Let Nan and me mend, Molly-Mary dear,’^ 
Ailsa said, as Mrs. Brett dismounted and came 
out of the closet, breathless and with her hair 
“flustered,” as Gussie expressed it. “We can 
do it and you can get at something else.” 

“Oh, no, indeed! I shall enjoy sitting down 
to this work. You two must help press and 
hold bits in place till they stick. I’ll tell you 
about the pink lustre china while we work.” 
said Mrs. Brett. “Anything the matter with 
my baby?” 

“Yes, there is,’^ said Gussie decidedly. “A 
foot ball; I’m a foot ball.” 

“Are you dear?” laughed her mother. 
“That’s a funny thing to play you are, but 


134 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Jimmy would be delighted if he knew you were 
one. I^m afraid he would sometimes rather 
have a foot ball than a small sister! Do you 
want to bring your little rocker and watch your 
‘flustrated’ mother mend poor old Rosamund^s 
hands?^' 

“I can’t watch if I’m a ball, can I?” asked 
Gussie dully. But she dragged her little willow 
chair across the room, nevertheless, and dropped 
into it close to her mother’s side. She laid her 
head over on her mother’s arm and settled down 
to see Rosamund repaired without a sign of 
interest, although she had long begged to have 
the forlorn doll’s hands put on. 

^^Doesn’t my little Gussette feel as fine as 
silk?” asked Mrs. Brett, quoting the child’s own 
way of expressing health, and passing her sen- 
sitive motherly hand over the little forehead. 

don’t know. ’Sides I’m a foot ball,” per- 
sisted Gussie languidly. 

^‘She doesn’t feel warm. Perhaps it’s a case 
for the Thing-That-We-Never-Mention, just a 
teaspoonful of the Fairy?” hinted Mrs. Brett. 
‘^Little Aunt Ailsa doesn’t know about that! 
W e play that Castor oil is a good fairy that comes 
in an ugly guise, just as good fairies often do, and 
brings kind gifts. So we take her right in and 
try to be grateful before she has made us feel 
better — ^like the letter writers who end : ^ Thank- 
ing you in advance.’ Don’t we, Gussie-baby?” 

‘^Foot balls don’t,” said Gussie, and her 
mother did not continue a subject that, at the 
best, was not pleasant to quite all present. 


JUST BEING GOOD 


135 


mend Rosamund first, and then the 
elephant, for they are the only two who can miss 
their parts; the rest are dishes and vases and 
such stupid things,^’ Mrs. Brett went on, busily 
sponging Rosamund^s wrists to make them 
ready for the cement. ^^WeVe actually for- 
gotten the hot water! Tilly, run out and ask 
Amanda to ^ive you half a cupful of boiling 
water to set the cement bottle in, please, 
daughterlein.’^ 

Ailsa sat in her favorite attitude, watching 
and listening. She wondered anew, as she had 
wondered ever since she had come to this home- 
like house, exactly why she was listening and 
watching with such interest, and with such pro- 
found content in her heart. Molly-Mary was 
not saying anything; she was only talking to 
amuse Gussie, who seemed dull. Nor was there 
anything interesting in seeing a shabby doll 
made ready for mending. But Molly-Mary’s 
voice was full of warm, blithe sweetness, her 
cadences rose and fell with music that was at 
the same time a caress. Her face was smiling, 
eyes and lips; even the flustered^’ bright hair, 
that never was smooth, seemed to smile. Her 
hands were strong, white, the forefinger of the 
left one honorably scarred from sewing. There 
was no ring on them, except the plain wedding 
band; they were the sort of useful, skillful hands 
that it is a pleasure to watch, but, more than 
that, they were the sort of hands that look kind 
and trusty, maternal hands, full of the best sort 


136 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


of character. For hands have expression 
scarcely less distinct than faces. 

‘‘Thank you, Tilly-Pilly,” Mrs. Brett said, 
as Tilly reappeared. “What are you laughing 
at?^^ 

“Amanda said: ‘Are you going to cement the 
things that were waiting?’ And I said we were. 
Then she said it was a^ul in-cement weather, 
and I didn’t know what she meant, but it 
sounded so funny!” explained Tilly. 

“Inclement, she must have meant!” cried 
Ailsa and Nan together, and they all joined in 
Tilly’s laugh. 

“Poor old, funny old, nice Amanda! She 
gets hold of the most unlikely words, and then 
only by the tip of their wings as they fly by!” 
laughed Mrs. Brett. “Now about the pink 
china, Ailie!” she went on, dropping the cement 
bottle gingerly into the exceedingly hot water 
that Tilly had fetched. “Your great grand- 
father — ^your great-great grandfather — ‘no, your 
great grandfather. I always forget that such a 
small girl is of the same generation as my 
husband! Your great-grandfater went to Eng- 
land in the first year of the nineteenth century, 
in 1800. He was only a boy, about fifteen, and 
he went over to visit relatives who were so dis- 
tantly kin that the relationship was rather one 
of courtesy than of fact. The Bretts, who came 
to Massachusetts more than a hundred years 
before then , had bequeathed to their descendants 
a correspondence with their kin in England, and 
this had been kept up so long that the only tie 


JUST BEING GOOD 


137 


was the name. William Brett, your great 
grandfather, was invited to go and make the ac- 
quaintance of the English Bretts of his day. So 
he went. And when he was returning — ^by one 
of those ‘fast packets’ of 1803, which made the 
voyage in about two months! — one of the gifts 
he received in parting was this set of pink 
glazed china, from an old Brett lady to whom 
your young great grandfather had become 
greatly attached and who was the mother of 
Squire Brett, the head of the English family. 
The dear old lady told this William Brett that 
the china was part of her wedding outfit, and 
that it was given to her with a sort of good luck 
attachment, so to say. That it was to bring 
its owner happiness ‘in the home, in marriage, 
and prosperity.’ Your brother does not know 
whether the spell has always worked well. The 
china had come down in the family, unbroken, 
undivided, until his day. Then a little of it 
went, he did not know where — that must be the 
few pieces you have seen at home. His sister 
had a part of it, which we now have, as 1 told 
you, and Augustus had received the greater 
part of it from his father, when he left home. 
No one could be happier in our home life and in 
each other than your brother and 1! We are 
not rich; that is the one part of the spell lacking 
fulfilment. Gus laughs and says that the old 
spell works still in the most important ways, 
and if it lacks some power it is probably because 
the set is no longer complete, which would ac- 
count for the incompleteness of the luck it 


138 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


briogs. It is rather a nice little family tra- 
dition, isn’t it? I’m deeply attached to the 
pink glaze china. If you’ve heard all this be- 
fore, Ailsa, 1 don’t know what I shall do to you 
for letting me tell it to you! It never occurred 
to me till this moment that you might have 
known the story!” 

^^I didn’t!” cried Ailsa. ^^It’s a dear story. 
It makes me feel quite set up and noble, to have 
a Tradition in the Family! It’s ’most as fine 
as a family ghost and ever so much pleasanter. 
You see father died when I was so tiny that he 
never had a chance to tell me about the pink 
set and I don’t believe mother knew anything of 
it. She likes the old pink sugar bowl and tea- 
pot, but that’s because it is old and so perfectly 
squat. Molly-Mary, Gussie’s asleep.” 

^^Why, so she is!” exclaimed Mrs. Brett, 
looking startled. ^^At this hour! I’m afraid 
she isn’t well. I will lay her on the couch and 
cover her up warm. Tilly, the clinical ther- 
mometer is in my dressing table drawer, the 
right corner; will you please get it, dear?” 

Mrs. Brett raised Gussie and carried her over 
to the couch, where she held her, half sitting, 
while Nan shook up the pillows and made a cozy 
nest for the chilTs head. Gussie murmured 
and said something about ^^a football” again, 
but did not waken as her mother laid her into 
the hollow of the pillows. Tilly came back with 
the thermometer which, held in Gussie’s mouth 
for two minutes, recorded a hundred and three 
degrees of temperature. 


JUST BEING GOOD 


139 


^^Does it mean anything bad, Molly-Mary?’^ 
asked Ailsa, startled by her sister-in-law’s gravity 
of expression. 

^^It means that the child is ill; that is all one 
can say at first,” said Mrs. Brett. ^^Nan — Oh, 
Nan must have gone to do what I was going to 
ask her to do, get Gussie’s bed ready and her 
night clothes out.” 

For Nan, experienced in the sicknesses of her 
juniors, had anticipated her mother’s need and 
disappeared. Again Ailsa was impressed. She 
never before had known a girl of her own age 
who would have been promptly, intelligently 
ready to meet this sort of an emergency. 

Mrs. Brett lifted Gussie, who wakened whimp- 
ering and still insisting that she was a football, 
which they knew now was a fancy of delirium 
and not a ^^make-believe,” as they had thought 
when Gussie first announced her transforma- 
tion. 

Tilly and I will walk backward and hold her 
up in the middle so she won’t sag; she is too 
heavy for you,” said Jimmy seriously, and 
carried out his own suggestion with benefit to 
both Gussie and his mother. Thus they went up 
stairs. 

Ailsa lingered where she was, not feeling sure 
that there was any kindness in following where 
she could not be useful. But she felt so cast 
down and frightened that she sought Amanda 
in the kitchen. 

'^Amanda,” she said, accepting the chair 
which Amanda set forward for her, what could 


140 


THE LITTLE ^UNT 


Gussie have that would begin by her thinkingshe 
was a football and falling off asleep — ^when we 
were all talking, and she wasn’t comfortable and 
having a fever, a hundred and three degrees? 
Her mother has taken her to bed.” 

^^Laws, Miss Ailie, heaps o’ things!” cried 
Amanda, startled in her turn. '^Is dat de way 
’tis wif dat chile now? I couldn’t rightly tell 
you what der ain’t dat starts in like you says fo’ 
httle folks. Po’ Mis’ Brett! She’s pow’ful 
anxious when one o’ dem draps down sick.” 

“I wish I could help her,” said Ailsa, ^^but I 
don’t know one single thing about it. Amanda, 
if Gussie were very ill — -well, I suppose they 
would have a nurse?” 

^'Miss Ailie, I’ll tell you ’bout ’dat,” said 
Amanda with an important air. ‘^Mis’ Brett 
she might git someone in to let her sleep long 
’nough to be ’round de res’ de time, but she 
ain’t one to let no strained nuhses take de re- 
sponsumbility o’ savin’ de life of any one of 
dese yere chil’em. Yo’ sister. Mis’ ’Gustus 
Brett, is de mos’ ’sclusive mother o’ her chil’en 
what I ’member to have seen, nof’ or souf’. 
When dey’s well she’s jes’ livin’ to keep ’em so 
an’ good an’ happy for good measuments. An’ 
when dey gits sick she hangs ovah ’em an’ onto 
’em till dey ain’t no show fo’ ’em to do nothin’ 
else ’cept git well. An’ I’ll go on to tell you mo. 
If little Gussie was to be right down bad you 
an’ Nan could keep house, an’ dat’d be helpin’. 
Mis’ Brett she wouldn’t be ’round none to make 
things right fo’ you’ pa — ^you’ brother, I mean — 


JUST BEING GOOD 


141 


an’ for Dins, an’ to keep watchin’ Tilly. I’m 
^io’ tell you, Miss Ailie, what I nevah in my 
life time seen — an’ 1 don’t rightly know how ol 
I was my las’ birfday, which comes ’gain de twelf 
Feb’ry, like de good Lincolum’s — so what evah 
age ’twas it’s mos’ somepin’ else by now — ^but 
i ain’t nevah seen nobody hon’es’ wishin’ to fin’ 
somepin’ to do what ain’t fouo’ it, aa’ dey mos’ 
in geo’l fin’ it, wif such a lot mo’ on top de 
firs’ job, dat you couldn’t make out de size an’ 
shape of what de firs’ job really look’ like — aJl 
de res’ would ’a’ come pilin’ an’ runnio’ into it 
like de way dose chocolate camels Narj makes 
runs together in de pan ! I near Jimmy callin’ 
up de tel’phone.” 

They listened and heard Jimmy summon the 
doctor. So little Gussie was really ill! 

^^Nan, what is it. How is the baby?” cried 
Ailsa, running to meet Nan in the hall as she 
heard her light step on the stairs. 

“Mumsy thinks it is probably one of the con- 
tagious diseases. She hopes ineasles, but fears 
scarlet fever,” said Nan, looking troubled. 
“Measles are bad enough, but scarlet fever! 
None of us has had it. However, mumsy ex- 
pressly told me not to bear trouble that had not 
come, and to tell you not to. The reason 
Gussette thinks she’s a football is that she has 
pain all over her body; we found that out. 
You and 1 are promoted; we are to keep house. 
Tilly will be an angel child while we’re in trouble; 
she always is. I hope the doctor won’t be long!” 

He was not long; he came in less than an 


142 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


hour, and when he went away the Brett house 
was quarantined; but not for measles, not for 
the dreaded fever. 

^^Mumsy is going to take care of Gussie — of 
course. She always shuts herself up with the 
sick one; that^s the big figure we set down in our 
profit column when one of us is sick — ^mumsy, 
fancy things to eat and being the important 
one! That’s to balance all the ways we feel 
miserable, wanting to be up and out, losing 
what’s going on, all that. If you ask me I be- 
lieve it makes up for all the rest to have mumsy 
all to yourself, waiting on you, reading to you, 
singing softly, talking, shaking up your pillows, 
smoothing your hair, calling 3^ou lovely names! 
And you feel as if you deserved them, too! You 
feel so nice and weak and angelic, uncomfortable 
but patient! Really, I think it’s great to be 
sick. When yOu’re half way well, that’s the 
fearful time! You girls will have to coddle 
daddy and me while we’re minus mother.” 
Dins came home to hear the news and this 
was the way he received it. 

You may as well coddle us,” returned Nan. 
^^We’re just as minus! More, because you’ll 
get out of going to school, and we weren’t going. 

“You know I want to go!” cried Dins, with 
pardonable heat. “Whose promotion was I 
after anyhow?” 

“Some district messenger boy’s, name un- 
known,” interposed Ailsa. “Does quarantine 
forbid visitors?” 

“Ham Gravy and Giddy will come around; 


JUST BEING GOOD 143 

we wou^t be in the Gussette^s room, and they 
had measles,” said Dins. 

‘^And Mona and Kit had them when 1 did, 
when we were eight. If they all come nights 
it won^t be bad.” Nan spoke hopefully. 
should think we could work on the play.” 

But as it turned out these members of the 
Hit-or-Miss Club did not venture to the Bretts, 
because there were younger children at home 
and because, if they should be debarred from 
several good times occurring in these days be- 
fore Christmas the penalty would be severe. 
So Ailsa and Nan spent two dragging weeks of 
dependence upon their own family resources, 
being tremendously good, at first with en- 
thusiasm, then with patience and finally with 
weariness of spirit. 

Ailsa had no idea of how irksome a round of 
duties could be until she perfortned them with 
her unaccustomed hands. Nan got on better 
because she had helped her mother all her life, 
but Ailsa, Ailsa to whom her tasks were so new 
that she took hold awkwardly, Ailsa with her 
quickness and flashing gaiety in harness, was 
like a fire-fly in a treadmill. But it was good 
for her; she learned much besides how to use 
her hands; she learned what one woman can be 
to a household who is its heart, its brains, its 
dependence. 

“Doesn’t it seem just as if someone had cut 
the head off this house and it was just flopping 
around like a chicken?” cried Tilly, one night 
out of the depths of a loneliness that could be 


144 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


cut. For Mrs. Brett had secluded herself 
entirely from her family and by that means had 
raised the quarantine, to the extent that Dins 
might continue with his class, this year being 
such an important one to him. 

'^Nothing looks in order, either, not the way 
it does when mumsy is about,” said Nan, sur- 
veying the room dissatisfiedly. ^^Ailsa and I 
pick up and pick up, but nothing looks fin- 
ished.” 

Mr. Brett looked up with a particularly 
cordial smile. YouVe done wonders, you two 
young Marthas,” he said. ^^'IVe noticed a 
great many points and scored them to you. 
What are you thinking of, Ailsa?” he added, 
for Ailsa was in a brown study. 

^^The pink china,” said Ailsa promptly. In- 
deed she had been considering the pink china 
all these days since Molly-Mary had told her 
about it. She could add something to that 
story and she felt more and more sure that her 
addition would be important. But just how or 
when to add it, where her duty lay in case her 
addition to the story should mean what she 
began to feel sure it would mean, was a puzzle 
never long absent from her mind. 

“The pink china exclaimed her brother. “Of 
all things to think of so hard! Cheer up, chil- 
dren, the dear lady of . the house will soon be 
down here. The doctor told me that Gussie 
might sit up to-morrow. After all we are so 
glad that the baby had no complications,, lungs 


JUST BEING GOOD 145 

and eyes are all right, that we can afford to for- 
get discomfort/’ 

^'The lady of the house is to be down to- 
night,” said a voice behind the hall portiere. 

^^Oh, say!” cried Dins, beating the others to 
the goal they all stormed, screaming like Co- 
manches. For it was Mumsy, Molly-Mary 
herself, paler, tired-looking from her confine- 
ment, but just as merry, smiling, lovable, cheery 
and several other things as ever. 

^^Oh, my, but we’re glad!” sighed Nan fer- 
vently. 

‘^Are we!” emphasized Jimmy. 

^^Molly-Mary, you’re the whole thing! ^Molly, 
there’s nae luck about the house when the gude 
wife’s awa,’ ” misquoted her husband as Ailsa 
spoke, jumping up to lead the blessed woman to 
a chair. 

Nan looked contentedly around the room. 
‘^Iso’t it funny!” she cried. Everything looks 
in spick and span order and perfectly all right 
now!” 

^‘Mum’s the word!” said Tilly, and nobody 
could be sitre whether this was wit or a misap- 
prehension of a familiar quotation on her part. 


CHAPTER IX 

THE PENDULUM SWINGS 

Ailsa was conscious of having been exceedingly 
good. Nan had been quite as good, but it did 
not seem to matter so much. Nan was rather 
like a spark, in one sense; it was natural for her 
to fly upward. But in the other sense Ailsa was 
far more like a spark; she loved to flash and 
snap and crackle. And, after all, anyone who 
has ever sat beside a wood fire on a hearth knows 
that sparks fly outward almost as much as they 
tend upward — -and it is dangerous. 

All the while that little Gussie had been ill 
Ailsa had been as staid and helpful as Nan her- 
self, and now that time was over Ailsa was 
conscious of being somewhat weary of well- 
doing and ready for almost anything that might 
offer in the way of a good time. She did not 
say so to herself, but she felt as we all feel when 
we have been particularly virtuous, as though 
she had earned the right to relax. 

“I thought weM get up the play for Christ- 
mas, before Christmas, and give it for a charity, 
but there w^on^t be time,^^ she said pensively to 
Nan. you think we could give a concert?’’ 

think we’d have to give it!” laughed Nan, 
with an emphasis on the ^^give.^’ Nobody 
would come otherwise. And do you really 


THE PENDULUM SWINGS 147 


mean to get up a play for a charity, Ailsa? We 
never could! And what charity?” 

I don^t knoV. Found the charity if we had 
to! Renwyck hasn^t a day nursery, for one 
thing; I asked. That would be a good thing to 
start, and appropriate for us young things. 
There must be plenty to give to; there always 
is,” said Ailsa. 

^^The reason there isoT a day nursery is be- 
cause so few women go out to work by the day, 
and those that do go take their babies with 
them; at least Mrs. Rafferty does when she 
comes here,” said Nan. 

^^How about the mills?” asked Ailsa. 

^^Oh, my ! I don't know one thing about them! 
Over at East Renwyck they are,” cried Nan, 
looking at Ailsa with respectful wonder. 

‘^To be honest, you know, 1 don't care so 
much for the day nursery as for an Excuse, with 
a capital E., as it's to be a kind of an institu- 
tion,” said Ailsa truthfully. ^4f charitable 
ladies told the truth I think they'd say the same, 
lots of them. I've watched them, mother's 
friends. Once in a while there is one that you 
can see is just fine, wants to help suffering and 
all that, but lots of them love to be on com- 
mittees and have tea after they meet, and get 
up bazars and entertainments — know it! 
And I’m just as bad, only I'm too young to 
matter and I’m not goiqg to keep it up and I'm 
not pretending to be unselfish. Nanny let's 
have a concert for some poor kiddies ! The Hit- 
or-Miss Club, you know! We can play well 


148 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


eDough for them ! No, we can play bad enough, 
bad enough for them to kick their feet keeping 
time, and have an upglorious time. Will you?’^ 
don^t know. Maybe. I wonder if the 
Sunday School would let us ^ve one? Or Miss 
Broad?^^ said Nan, half captured by the sug- 
gestion. 

^^Who^s Miss Broad?’^ asked Ailsa. 

^^She^s the loveliest thing! Only you have 
to look below the surface of her to see it,’^ said 
Nao. ^^Her name is so funny! She’s just as 
tall and narrow as she can be, but we think her 
name struck in, for there’s nothing about her 
heart that isn’t broad enough to hold the world. 
She has a little school of little children, where 
they learn little lessons, and play little games, 
and the scholars have to be more than a little 
poor to get in. She does it as a charity, and 
because she’s so crazy to have lots and lots of 
children around her. She isn’t one bit pretty, 
and she dresses so queer that you’d think the 
children would feel stiff and shy with her, but 
they swarm around her and love her to dis- 
traction.” 

Children know. DidnH you ever notice 
that a poor scared street cat will look at you 
.hard when you pass, ready to run, but if you 
femile she comes to you and mews? Of course 
Idogs do,” said Ailsa. 

Mew? Not in Ren wyck,” observed Nan, and 
they both giggled. ^^But I know what you 
mean; animals and children are like that; they 
feel something in people. Miss Broad’s kiddy- 


THE PENDULUM SWINGS 149 

wees feel how she loves them. She takes in 
all the lost animals and looks after them, too.’^ 

'^She sounds perfectly lovely. Will she let 
us give a concert at her school for Christmas?'^ 
asked Ailsa. 

^‘She probably would think we were angelic 
to offer,’^ Nan replied. ^^She couldn^t say no, 
if she wanted to; we’re still too young for Mi^s 
Broad to refuse us anything. What makes you 
so anxious to give a concert, Ailsa?” 

Just to have the fun of getting it up, some- 
thing going on,” said Ailsa promptly. ^^Willyou 
come with me this instant and ask this Broad 
and gentle lady to let us play in her school?” 

^^Yes, I don’t mind,” laughed Nan. ^^Broad 
and gentle lady is precisely what she is. Get 
ready, you silly Ailsa, and I’ll take you to see 
Miss Broad.” 

Ailsa flew to her pretty little golden room and 
soon came out again, all smiles and bright-eyed, 
under the drooping brim of her large hat. 

^^Do you know, Nan, I’ve just had a chill? 
It went all down my spine ” 

^^Not far,” murmured Nan. 

‘‘And then wilted me everywhere,” Ailsa 
ignored her interruption. “It was caused by 
the calendar. Christmas is a week from next 
Wednesday!” 

“ ’Course it is. What then?” asked Nan, 
hurriedly turning over the contents of her neck- 
wear box to find precisely the bow she re- 
quired. 

“But next Wednesday!” persisted Ailsa. “I 


150 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


thought it was a week from the Wednesday after 
that/^ 

“Of all ways to say it!^^ cried Nan. “Why 
not two weeks from Wednesday? It must have 
shocked you! But only suppose it were a week 
from last Wednesday! Now I^m ready Auntie 
dear; come along.’^ 

“Auntie dear’' came along very readily. 
They went down the Main street, called thus 
in the usual simple, direct manner of naming 
used by American towns the size of Renwyck. 
Then they turned aside and walked a consider- 
able distance, till they reached a neighborhood 
new to Alisa, a poor neighborhood of uniform 
little houses, differing chiefly in the labels on 
the tin cans which held the straggling geraniums 
in the windows, or in the absence of any attempt 
at flowers or decorations and the substitution 
of degrees of plainness, merging into untidiness. 

“I didn’t know there were places like this in 
Renwyck,” said Ailsa. “We ought to be able 
to get up an entertainment to help people like 
these.” 

Nan shook her head. “They’re not really 
poor. I mean they wouldn’t want charity. 
Miss Broad’s kindergarten is in that house, the 
one with the bow window full of blooming plants. 
She lives there all winter. Isn’t she dear? She 
has a pretty house, in a nice part of town, but 
she stays here; she says she wants to be a real 
neighbor to people that want her.” 

“It must be a little hard to be a social settle- 
ment all by oneself,” remarked Ailsa. 


THE PENDULUM SWINGS 


151 


NaD weDt up the brief walk that led to the 
door, struggling to pull her face into sobriety 
after Ailsa’s last speech. 

Miss Broad had seen them from her school 
room and dispatched the twins to let them in. 
^^The Twins/^ thought of in capitals, were an 
institution in Hobson street, being the only 
ones of their kind and as healthy, bright and 
pretty as though each of the pair was the only 
one — in short, as if they had not been twins. 

Consequently, it was at once plain to the 
roomful of small pupils that sending the Twins 
to the door meant that Miss Broad was receiv- 
ing guests whom she wished to honor. 

When the kindergartners saw the two pretty 
young girls come in, bright of eye and cheek 
from the December wind, they knew at once 
that Miss Broad, was right in wishing to honor 
them, for they were of the right age and appear- 
ance to be ideal visitors. 

My dear Nan Brett!” exclaimed Miss Broad, 
rising and coming forward. 

Ailsa saw a tall woman whose age was im- 
possible for her to guess, dressed not only 
plainly, but peculiarly and so thin and narrowly 
built that her name was as funny as a caricature. 
But as Miss Broad kissed Nan^s cold, soft cheek, 
and turned to greet Ailsa, when Nan mentioned 
her name, Ailsa saw the look in the deep eyes 
and felt the magnetism that made the children, 
as Nan had said, swarm around her.” It was 
the unmistakable look and atmosphere of utter 
goodness, unselfishness, love for the little and 


152 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


helpless and for the beautiful things that God 
has made and entrusted to man to take care of, 
as to the eldest son of the great family that 
peoples the earth. Ailsa smiled up at the 
singular face above her with a warmth that sur- 
prised herself, instantly yielding Miss Broad 
the trusting affection that the animals and chil- 
dren give her. To her amazement she found 
herself suddenly wishing to give a Christmas 
entertainment for this little kindergarten that 
would really delight its teacher. So contagious 
is goodness that Ailsa lost sight of her desire to 
have something going on ” in the desire to make 
happy this woman who spent her life making 
otWs happy. 

heard of the Brett children’s maiden 
aunt,’’ said Miss Broad with a smile, and if she 
was plain, her voice was most beautiful and her 
smile an illumination. 

Wasn’t it a good joke?” said Ailsa. “They 
knew I was only a half sister of their father’s, 
yet they thought I had to be a whole aunt.” 

“I can see you’re a dear little girl, at least; 
I like people who laugh with their eyes,” said 
Miss Broad, laying a carressing hand on Ailsa’s 
shoulder. “How good it is for Nan to have a 
sister of her own age! And what dear girls 
you are to come all this distance to visit Amabel 
Broad’s kindergarten ! Now come and take the 
seats of honor on the platform and my chickens 
shall be put through their paces for you. We’ll 
sing, and play musical games, and dance, and 
recite — ^won’t we, Small Ones?” 


THE PENDULUM SWINGS 153 

^‘Yes, Miss Broad, dear,” cried the little 
school in chorus. 

^^We really didn’t come to visit the school, 
Miss Broad,” said Nan. don’t believe that 
we ought to stay long, because mother was out 
when we came away and I forgot to tell Amanda 
where we were going. We came on an errand. 
We have a musical club— just for fun, you 
know. Ailsa plays the piano splendidly and 
the boys— Dins, Hamilton Graves, Gid Davis, 
Jimmy, with an ocarina, all play an instrument, 
and we get father to help us with his flute. It’s 
pretty funny, but it isn’t bad, when they play 
gay things. I’m supposed to sing with them. 
Ailsa thought — now you tell the rest, Ailsie.” 

^^I thought, maybe you’d let us give an 
entertainment to the children at Christmas,” 
said Ailsa, but got no further for shame. Miss 
Broad’s lovely smile lit up her plain face with 
an actual glow, and her kind eyes beamed on 
Ailsa. 

^^You dear little creature!” she cried in her 
sweet voice. “And a perfect stranger! You 
dear little creature!” 

“You must understand,” said Ailsa bravely^ 
“I didn’t think of it for you; I didn’t know of 
you, nor of the school. I wanted to get up a 
concert, just to have something going on. We 
were going to have a play at Christmas, but my 
brother’s little Gussie had measles, and we 
couldn’t do it. So I wanted something to get 
up, have going on. It wasn’t one bit goodness, 
you see. Then Nan suggested maybe you’d 


154 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


let us give an entertainment here, and we came 
to ask you. Now, all at once, I do want it to 
be nice and to please you, make the children have 
a fine time, but that’s just come into me. It 
wasn’t anything but a lark in the first place. 
Instead of being dear in me, I’m rather ashamed. 
But I’ll do my best to help make it fine, in order 
to please you, now, if you’ll let us come.” 

Nan listened to this in astonishment, but re- 
spectfully. What a queer little bundle of im- 
pulses Ailsa was! But Nan understood that 
Ailsa had been violently attracted by this 
plain, middle-aged lady before them, and she 
also understood why. Miss Amabel Broad was 
absolutely lovely and a girl as warmly impulsive 
as Ailsa wanted to be crystal clear to her kind 
eyes and to begin fair her worship of Miss Broad. 

^^It is nothing to be ashamed of to want to 
find a peg to hang a good time upon; what 
could be more highly right than for a young girl 
to be gay. I don’t think that I shall take back 
my dictum that you are a dear little creature! 
Perhaps I shall emphasize it a wee bit, because 
there isn’t anything so fine as perfect honesty. 
And it is sweet of you, dear little Brown Girl, 
to want to please us, now that you see what a 
little school of ordinary little bits of boys and 
girls ours is. At least our splendor isn’t daz- 
zling you!” Miss Broad rested one hand lightly 
on Ailsa’s shoulder, tipped up her chin with 
the other, looked steadily a moment into the 
girl’s dark eyes, nodded, and let her go. 

^'Yes,” Miss Broad said, but did not explain 


THE PENDULUM SWINGS 


155 


to what she assented. Indeed 1^11 gladly and 
gratefully accept your offer to give us an enter- 
tainment ! The children will be enraptured over 
it, nice, bright songs — perhaps? — ^which they 
know, played by musicians, who are only larger- 
sized youngsters than they are! Indeed, dear 
Nan, Fm delighted that you guided your little 
aunt to me! And may we have some Christmas 
hymns? I like to have the children’s feast 
marked by remembrance of the Divine Child; 
not all Santa Claus and mere joviality, you 
know!” 

'^Indeed you may. Miss Broad!” cried Nan. 
^^The Hit-or-Miss Club shall play, and then 
We’ll sing ever so many Christmas carols and 
hymns for you.” 

Thank you, dear Nannie! Hit-or-Miss 
Club. Is that its name? And why?” asked 
Miss Broad. 

^^Oh, because they sometimes hit and often 
miss playing well,” said Nan. ^^We must go 
home. Miss Broad. We’ll settle the date for 
the entertainment next week.” 

'^I wish we could show you how accomplished 
we are,” said Miss Broad, looking at the chil- 
dren wistfully; the whole little lot of small 
tots — ^twenty-six of them — were behaving with 
exemplary quiet during this call. ‘^When we 
have anyone here who can play the music of 
Anitra’s Dance, Grieg’s Peer Gynt suite, you 
know — ^these small things, led by the twins, 
dance it all around the room. I think they do 
it well. Most of them are the leaves in the 


156 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


forest and they wave their arms and pat their 
hands in the most realistic way 

There was something irresistible in the 
simplicity of Miss Broad's whimsical, yet genu- 
ine wistfulness to have her little pupils ^^show 
off.” 

Ailsa pulled off her gloves rapidly. can 
play it, Miss Broad; I love it, and the whole 
Peer Gynt. I'll play it and then we must run 
away." 

Miss Broad beamed delightedly. In a mo- 
ment Ailsa was playing a bright little air to get 
the children on their feet and in line. Then she 
began the alluring Anitra's dance; she played 
it as Ailsa played everything, with spirit, yet 
with poetical feeling. In the midst of her 
watchfulness of her small, chubby dancers. Miss 
Broad found time to wonder at the precocity of 
Ailsa's talent. 

The funny little pinafored tots reaUy had 
caught so'mething of the feeling of the music. 
It spoke volumes for what Miss Broad was in 
herself and to them, that she had informed 
these tiny creatures, out of homes where in- 
spiration did not lurk, with so much of the proper 
interpretation of the music. The Twins es- 
pecially were delightful, dancing backward, 
waving their brief arms alluringly, moving 
rhythmically, though at moments their balance 
was endangered. And all the other little bunches 
of solemn babyhood danced after them sway- 
ingly, patting their plump hands to, represent 
the patter of wind-swept leaves in the forest. 


THE PENDULUM SWINGS 


157 


It was a triumphant success. The children, 
short-breathed, round-eyed, and visibly burst- 
ing with pride under Miss Broad’s approval, 
rolled sideways into their seats again. Miss 
Broad kissed and thanked her visitors warmly, 
and the girls found themselves once more in the 
narrow street, retracing their steps homeward. 

^^Why in the world didn’t you take me to see 
that darlingest little kindergarten before? And 
tell me about Miss Broad, purposely, not acci- 
dentally?” demanded Ailsa. ‘T think she’s 
just like seeing goodness, not just like a good 
woman, but plain goodness.” 

^'1 suppose she is plain,” said Nan, pretend- 
ing to misunderstand. 

^^Oh, you know I don’t mean that! Simple 
goodness, then ! But she’s simple, too. Never 
mind you know quite well what I’m trying to 
say. Goodness all by itself, just walking 
around,” Ailsa went on. ‘^It is so beautiful to 
see her living there, training those little puddings 
of youngsters ! Isn ’t it queer how a plain person 
can be beautiful?” 

<q’m glad you think Miss Broad is beautiful,” 
said Nan quietly. '‘And I may as well tell you 
that I’ve been kind of worshipping Miss Amabel 
since I was Gussie’s age. Isn’t she not-broad?” 

"She is certainly thin and narrow,” Ailsa 
agreed. "I kept thinking of that old puzzle; 
you liow! Someone makes a tall, narrow A., 
with two lines beside it and tells you to guess 
what book and author it represents. It’s: 'In 
no sense a broad, by Mark Twain’ — 'Innocents 


158 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Abroad, by Mark Twain’ — it isn’t grammatical; 
there are two marks. However, puzzles usually 
squirm. She is in no sense A. Broad, and her 
initial is A. I kept saying that to myself. But 
she’s lovely.” Ailsa considered in silence as 
they walked on. Suddenly she burst out with: 
‘^Nan, I’ve been thinking! I never saw people 
like duckie Molly -Mary and Miss Broad! They 
aren ’ t alike, yet they are. MoUy-Mary is simple, 
too, and lovable and loving. But she’s merry 
and close-by, if you know, and so sunny-happy 
with all of us! While Miss Broad is like some- 
one that was contented and never wanted any- 
thing for herself at all. I think it must do a lot 
of good to anyone just to know such people. 
They’re both a kind I’d like to be, and I may as 
well be truthful — ^lots of good people make me 
glad I’m not good!” 

Nan laughed till a grocer’s boy, passing with 
his basket on his arm, smiled widely in sym- 
pathy. Are you very wicked?” she asked. 

No, but you know what I mean ! Making a 
regular business of being good, thinking of it 
and getting ready for it every morning. Molly- 
Mary and this Miss Broad seem to be the kind 
that never bother about it at all, but just are 
good! Aren’t those the Brower girls coming?” 
asked Ailsa. 

‘^Speaking of saints!” laughed Nan. '‘Yes, 
that is Reije and Billie — no, Irma! They look 
alike in pairs, the oldest and the third one, the 
second one and the fourth. That’s Irma.” 

"Hello, people! People, hello!” cried Irma 


THE PENDULUM SWINGS 


159 


Brower waving her muff as Reine darted on 
ahead of her to greet the Brett girls. ‘‘We were 
wishing we could see you and saying we guessed 
we’d risk it,” cried Reine, hugging Ailsa en- 
thusiastically and patting Nan on the shoulder. 
“Nice like Nannie! We like you heaps. Nan’s 
mother isn’t stuck on the Brower girls. Most 
of the mothers in Renwyck seem to think we’re 
terrors; we’re not! We didn’t know whether 
we’d better go to see you, or not, after the 
measles had quit. I said that was silly, weren’t 
we asked to the party?” 

“Nobody could come to see us while Gussie 
was sick. Won’t you come back with us now?” 
asked Nan politely. 

“Ailsa likes us,” announced Irma, 

“ Ailsa’s a sport, if I know one,” added Reine. 

Ailsa looked at them, smiling, half attracted, 
as she had been when she met these girls, by 
their high spirits, friendliness, cordiality. She 
wondered why she shrank from being called 
“a sport,” which Reine plainly intended as a 
compliment. 

The Browers looked more cityfied than the 
other Renwyck girls, yet nothing was exactly 
right which they wore. Their skirts were too 
short, too pronounced in the direction of the 
prevailing fashion in width. Their hats were , 
too large, the trimmings put on at too acute 
angles; their gloves were too largely wrinkled, 
too manifestly mannish; their buttons were too 
big, their muffs too decided in shape; their 
boas had too many tails and paws aod were 


160 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


flung too rakishly over the shoulder, and each 
girl wore a corsage bouquet of artificial violets, 
slightly scented. Though they were dressed in 
quiet colors they produced an aggregate of 
effects that summed up into a total of bad taste, 
of ill-breeding. Ailsa felt all this, yet was an- 
noyed with herself for feeling it and so went 
further than she otherwise would have done in 
being friendly to the girls. It was a curious 
little piece of contrariness that she could not, 
later on, explain. 

^^It^s perfect nonsense to talk as if we didnT 
want you,’^ she said. ^^It isnT much likeasport, 
if that^s what you want to be, to imagine people 
arenT friendly. Did you want to see us for 
anything special?’’ 

‘^For your own duckie little sake, and that’s 
special enough,” said Irma Brower, beaming on 
Ailsa. ‘^But there was something else. We’re 
going out as waits on Christmas eve. We’re 
going to dress up and go around singing at the 
different houses — of course we’ll pick out the 
best ones for the joke. We’ll have fun if ever 
we did ! W^ e want you to go with us— Nan , too, 
of course, if she’ll come. We’re going to ask 
Dins, but we’re afraid Nan’s mother won’t want 
her to go. Will you come? Do, Ailsa! It’ll 
be the best ever. Billie will dress up as a boy; 
she makes the best boy you ever saw. Wouldn’t 
you like a gay old frolic like that? If you would, 
can’t you come, even if Nan or Dins doesn’t? 
Mrs. Brett won’t forbid you, will she? You’re 


THE PENDULUM SWINGS 


161 


a guest aud can as you like, can’t you? What 
about you, Nan?” 

Nan shook her head. afraid not, Irnaa. 

Mother lets us do almost everything we think 
of, but I know she’d dislike that,” she said. 
don’t believe I’d care about it myself,” she 
added. Thank you.” 

^^You seem to be talking in a lot of post- 
scripts,” said Irma, laughing, but looking an- 
noyed. ^^We hardly thought you’d be in for 
one of our good times, but take it from me, 
Nannie Brett, we’re the bunch in Renwyck that 
has the good times! Come along that night, 
Ailsa, do! There isn’t one bit of harm in our 
jamborees; we don’t burgle, nor commit any 
crimes! Will you join in?” 

^^I don’t know,” hesitated Ailsa, and some- 
where in the back of her sane and critical brain 
she wondered why she hesitated, for she felt 
repulsion amid the attraction these too-lively, 
too-slangy, too-pronounced girls had for her. 
Unfortunately Nan glanced at her warningly, 
with a slight, a very slight shake of the head, 
but not so slight that Reine, whose eyes were 
like a hawk’s, missing nothing, did not see it. 

Oh, Nan, let Ailsa decide for herself!” Reine 
protested. Her tone was good natured, but her 
sharp eyes flashed anger and contempt. 

^^I — ^perhaps I will go,” said Ailsa then. ^^I 
can’t promise till I find out if there is anything 
going on at home Christmas eve that would 
keep me. I’ll let you know. What would I 
have to have for a costume?” 


162 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


''Rags!’' cried Reine. "Any old thing! The 
older and the queerer, the better. You’ll die 
when you see us. And if there was anythiog 
that you really had to get back for you could cut 
out the last of our fun. We’re going out by 
eight and we mean to get through by ten and 
end up with a dance in our togs. Now don’t 
you give us the slip, you little peacherino, for 
we want you.” 

"All of you going? Miss Brower and Miss 
Irma are so much more grown up than I am,” 
said Ailsa. 

"Oh, cut it out!” cried Irma. "Miss Brower 
and Miss Irma! I’m not at all obliged to you 
for that and Bess wouldn’t be. We’re all kids 
in a bunch, and you may be little, but I see 
you’re not half as free and easy and lively as we 
are! Yes, you are!” she added. "You’re full 
of the mischief, but you’ve been tied up the 
way girls are. We don’t care a cent, neither 
does our mother, about what people say, and the 
quicker you find out you may as well do as 
you please in this world, the better off you’ll 
be.” 

"Well, so long, then, if here’s where we part,” 
said Reine, as the four girls halted on the corner 
of the street which they had reached by this 
time. "Whatever you do don’t give us the slip 
that night.” 

Nan suffered agonies on the way home, due 
to her prudent holding of her peace. She 
longed to tell Ailsa that she should not so much 
as have entertained the Brower girls’ suggestion. 


THE PENDULUM SWINGS 


163 


But she forebore, being wise enough to recognize 
that, for some unexplained reason, these girls 
set Ailsa to contradicting herself and that the 
less she said about it the more likely Ailsa was 
to let them alone. 

“Do you keep Christmas eve particularly, or 
do you celebrate on Christmas day proper?^’ 
asked Ailsa as they neared the house. 

“We have our presents Christmas morning, 
if you mean that,’’ said Nan. “But Christmas 
eve we keep in another way. We sing Christmas 
carols all the evening, and hymns, too. And we 
read poems about Christmas, and maybe a 
particularly nice Christmas story, and then 
mumsy reads the Christmas gospel and we go to 
bed ready to hear the angels! Truly, Ailsa, I 
believe all we children feel as though we were in 
Bethlehem that night! Mumsy is so dear — and 
daddy helps.” 

Ailsa was silent. Then she kissed Nan on the 
lower step, to the amusement of Jimmy, watch- 
ing from a window. 

“I don’t know why I even thought of going 
that night! I won’t go Nancy! But I half 
like those girls; they sort of fascinate me. Some 
other day I’m going to do something they ask 
me to do. But I was wrong this time. Don’t 
tell Molly-Mary I thought of running away on 
Christmas eve for a jollification with the 
Browers. I haven’t had your sort of Christmas 
keeping; it’s fine!” she said, and Nan had to be 
satisfied with this victory. 


CHAPTER X 


RESTING MERRY 

^^God rest ye merry, geDtlemee,” sang Nan 
at the top of her sweet voice the day after Christ- 
mas. Mumsy, why is it ^ rest ye merry, gentle- 
men?^ Most people say ^rest ye, merry gentle- 
men.’ Wouldn’t you expect it to be merry 
gentlemen who were to be rested?” she inter- 
rupted herself to ask. 

shouldn’t expect a wish for rest on Christ- 
mas, in a carol. ^Rest’ means, in Elizabethan 
English, Ho keep’ in a case like this. The carol 
reajly says: ^God keep ye merry, gentlemen.’ 
It is not correct to put the hyphen before the 
word merry. Shakespeare uses rest in this way, 
wishing someone to rest, keep in health or happi- 
ness. Nan, dear, what is Ailsa doing?” asked 
Mrs. Brett. 

Nan’s face clouded. ^^She is in her room 
writing a poem of thanks to Mona,” she said. 

^^For her present? It certainly deserves a 
poem!” smiled Mrs. Brett. 

Nan sighed. Then she brightened, with evi- 
dent intent to do so; the processes of Nan’s 
mind were always easily followed. “It was 
beautiful. Isn’t it fine that Ailsa and Mona like 
each other so much!” she said with elaborate 
enthusiasm. 


RESTING MERRY 165 

Mrs. Brett hid a smile that was all tender 
understanding and no amusement. 

'Terhaps it is love me love my little con- 
temporaneous aunt!^^ she suggested. ^^Mona 
has been fond of Nannie long enough to include 
all that Nannie loves.’’ 

But all the time Nan’s mother knew that her 
dear girl was far more capable of a deep af- 
fection than her friend was. 

Nan kissed her mother without a word. The 
best of a mother is that she always sees through 
one, but so lovingly that she is the only one in 
the world from whom one has no desire to hide 
each hidden thought. 

We’re going to practise our programme this 
morning,” said Nan, after this silent, grateful 
acceptance of the balm given her unspoken hurt. 
For Mona had sent Ailsa a little finger ring that 
would go straight to any girl’s heart, with a 
note saying that she wanted to see it on Ailsa’s 
hand, never removed, but worn day and night 
to remind Ailsa that her new friend, Mona 
Chapman, loved her as if she had known her 
all her life.” Ailsa had laughed and said that 
the ring wouldn’t remind her of anything during 
the night, for she was a good sleeper, but she 
slipped it on her finger at once and set about 
writing Mona a poem of gratitude early the 
day after Christmas. Nan knew that Ailsa 
was greatly pleased with her ring and that she 
considered writing verses her highest form of 
expression of love and gratitude. Nan’s own 
present from Mona had been a pretty Parisian 


166 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


ivory buffer iu its tray. It was as valuable as 
Ailsa^s gift, but no one reckons the value of 
gifts in naoney, no one worth counting; it is a 
gift^s value in sentiment that weighs, and Ailsa’s 
ring seemed far more personal and expressive 
than Nan’s buffer. It was not mean jealousy; 
Nan could hardly help feeling a little hurt. 

Are you going over the entire programme?” 
asked Mrs. Brett. Isn’t it time you were be- 
ginning, then?” 

“We were waiting for the boys; I’ll go see if 
they’ve come,” said Nan, and hastened away. 
Passing Ailsa’s door she paused. Ailsa, seen 
through the door ajar, looked pretty enough to 
hug io her dark crimson gown, her cheeks match- 
ing it and her eyes dilated with the fire of genius. 
For Ailsa was just sealing the envelope of her 
poetic effusion of thanks to Mona. So, as she 
looked pretty enough to hug. Nan ran in and 
hugged her, moved by that fact and by an un- 
spoken contrition for the hurt she bore from 
what seemed like Mona’s preference for Ailsa, 
in spite of her long vowed allegiance to Nan. 

“What’s up?” asked Ailsa, surprised by the 
caress, but returning the kiss vehemently. 

“Nothing, only you looked so nice through 
the door,” said Nan. “Ailsa, if v/e don’t get 
at our practising we shall never get through 
before lunch, and the concert is at three.” 

“We had to wait for the boys, but I hear them 
down stairs now,” returned Ailsa. 

“I’m ready. But as to the programme, 
Nannie, I don’t believe we can stick to it, any- 


RESTING MERRY 


167 


way. I Ve an idea when we get into that kinder- 
garten entertainment we’ll do things we never 
rehearsed.” 

The two girls raced down stairs and found 
the boys waiting for them. Mona and Kit were 
just coming up the steps. Seeing them through 
the figures in the glass of the door, Nan and 
Ailsa opened it to them. 

Hello! Why?” asked Ailsa. 

Mona and Kit laughed. “Just because we 
wanted to come, even if we don’t belong to the 
orchestra. Besides, aren’t we to help with the 
singing?” 

“All right; come along in,” cried Ailsa. “I 
wrote you a note to thank you for that perfectly 
de-li-cious ring; I may as well hand it to you. 
I was going to post it.” 

“You’ve got it on!” cried Mona delightedly. 
“Oh, Ailsa, please wear it every minute! And 
it’s really awfully becoming to your hand!” 

“I’ll corral the coral and never let it go!” 
cried Ailsa, who had no tendency to sentimen- 
tality. 

“And I like my buffer lots, Mona,” said Nan. 
“And Kit’s book is splendid. I read three 
chapters without stopping the minute I opened 
it.” 

“Goodness, my neck chain and pendant is 
far nicer than that buffer!” cried Mona. 

“And my silver scissors are the dearest things! 
I brought you a penny so they wouldn’t do any 
harm to our friendship,” said Kit. 

By which time the girls had their things 


168 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


bestowed on the hall seat and were ready to 
begin the rehearsal for the entertainment which 
the Hit-or-Miss Club was to give Miss Broad^s 
kindergarten that night. 

It was such a ridiculous rehearsal that the 
performers were weak with laughter when they 
got through. Beneath their enjoyment of it, 
Ailsa and Nan felt more than doubt that the 
entertainment would be even passable. 

Parents and guardians will wander in; Miss 
Broad hinted as much, and we ought to do more 
than puff and giggle, and each come into the 
tune wherever we happen to hit it,’^ cried Ailsa, 
having played her accompaniment with zeal and 
exaggerated accents in a groundless hope of 
collecting her fellow musicians into unison with 
her. 

^^Don^t you worry, Ailie; we know more than 
we show,’’ Dins comforted her. ^^Take it from 
me we’ll make a hit — not a miss — ^this time! 
When we get Tilly and Jim in their dance, and 
Jim does the hornpipe alone, there’ll be joy 
among the innocents. And we’ve got a sur- 
prise for you; you won’t miss dad’s flute, as you 
do now.” 

‘^Oh, boys, please don’t do anything to spoil 
it any spoileder than it is!” pleaded Nan. 
don’t mind the babies, nor Mis^ Broad, because 
she’s always ready for fun, but perhaps the 
parents and guardians will take us seriously and 
be disgusted.” 

^^P’s and G’s should mind their P’s and Q’s, 
and not look a gift horse in the mouth, even 


RESTING MERRY 


169 


when its mouth is opeu to blow a cornet, like 
Ham’s here, and Jim’s, with his sweet-potato- 
ocarina wonder, or you girls, singing,” declared 
Dins. ‘^It’s nothing bad; you’ll be tickled 
pink, nervous Naunie.” 

“Well,” sighed Nan. “Let’s go to lunch. 
Amanda signalled me while you were playing 
that last number. There’s cold turkey and 
cranberry and other things from yesterday’s 
dinner, girls and boys; stay to lunch with us.” 

“No, thanks. Nan!” cried Gid Davis. “We’ve 
got to get home and tog out. We’ve got collars 
so stiff that it will take us, goodness knows how 
long to jam the buttons through.” 

“Well, we couldn’t stay; we’ve all got to 
dress,” said Mona and Kit, hastily rising, dis- 
covering all at once that there was occasion for 
haste, as people have a way of doing. 

“All right; stay the next time instead, then,” 
said Dins. “And whatever you beauties do 
don’t let your vanity make you late! Get back 
here promptly at half past two.” 

“No, sir; not till quarter to three,” said Ham. 
“I forgot to tell you that I engaged straw and 
Brown’s long delivery sled to hitch our horses 
to, to take us there.” 

“Oh, three cheers for our delicious Ham 
Gravy!” cried Nan, a demand which was met 
promptly with cheers that should have raised 
any roof that was not well fastened down. 

Luncheon was a hurried meal for all except 
Jimmy, the calm. He would have done full 
justice to that meal, always so delicious the day 


170 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


after Christinas, when one has a mind free to 
do justice to the good things, if he had been 
going to be inaugurated president. But the 
girls were decidedly flustered, nor was Dins as 
interested as usual in eating; the concert, if it 
should not be called an entertainment, was an 
event. 

Ailsa put on the crimson frock, with the 
voluminous depths of accordion pleating which 
seemed to fall soft and plain till a sudden move- 
ment sent it swinging. 

N^n was to wear white, for she was the 
soloist of the occasion, and white best suited the 
delicate fairness of her girlish beauty. For Nan 
was growing prettier every day; her childish 
charm was developing into a deeper charm, while 
retaining the innocent sweetness that makes a 
child the fairest thing in the world. 

^^Oh, Ailsa, but you are lovely! You look 
like a bed of salvia!^’ cried Nan, as Ailsa, ready 
first, came dancing down the hall, her crimson 
chiffon skirt floating this way and that, like the 
blossom of salvia in the wind, to which Nan 
compared it. 

^‘And, oh. Nan, you look lovely! You look 
like a bed of — poet’s narcissus in May!” cried 
Ailsa, hesitating for her comparison, but ending 
triumphantly, as the delicate purity of Nan’s 
face inspired her. 

Then both girls laughed and hugged each 
other girlishly, delighted with each other. 

“Molly -Mary has a rain coat for one of us 
and a cloth long coat for the other, so the straw 


RESTING MERRY 


171 


bottom of the sled can^t harm our fiuery.’^ Ailsa 
said. ‘^The boys are whistling their heads off; 
you can hear them from my room. Aren’t you 
ready? ” 

'‘ If you think 1 am,” said Nan, tying her head 
up in a scarf. "But I have to get a diploma 
from mumsy! I never am quite right, you 
know, till she has seen me and said 1 am. Come; 
I’ll carry my coat down.” 

The girls ran down stairs. Mrs. Brett was 
waiting for them at the foot of the stair-case. 
"Let me see you from every point, my lassies!” 
she cried. "Quite right in every detail, except 
this one little hook at Ailsa’s yoke and a bow that 
looks a bit weary at the back of Nan’s collar. 
There! Now you are all that the most critical 
kindergarten could ask its entertainers to be! 
Did you know 1 was going? ” 

" No ! How perfectly great 1 I wondered why 
you had on that gown!” cried Nan. 

"Yes. The boys insisted that I must go. 
Dins says they need a chaperon as much as a 
cornet,” cried this happy mother gleefully. 
"And Giddy says with a name like his it wouldn’t 
be proper to go without me, so I’m going! ” She 
looked as delighted as the youngest of her flock. 

"Molly-Mary Brett, you’re a peach!” cried 
Ailsa, for the unnumbered time, and she man- 
aged to give her sister-in-law a hasty kiss while 
she held her coat for her. 

Everybody climbed and tumbled into the 
clean, fragrant straw in the bottom of the sled, 
laughing and screaming as everybody, old 


172 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


and young, does under these circumstances. 

hope the kids will have half as much fun 
as weTe having,’^ remarked Dins, as he handed 
Gussie, well wrapped and shapeless, to her 
mother and helped Tilly to the seat beside the 
driver, for which she implored with as much 
emotion as if anyone else wanted it, though no 
one else did. 

“ We^l tell them well whip them if they donT 
enjoy themselves, and then theyT be sure to,’^ 
said Ham. 

'^Hit-or-Miss club, hit the miss, and also the 
master, with a club,’^ murmured Giddy, in such 
an idiotic way that the rest shouted — though 
they laughed at everything and nothing every 
foot of the road. 

The performers stopped to pick up Mona and 
Kit, who were waiting for them impatiently, 
and then the horses trotted the remaining dis- 
tance, speeding along, seeming to enjoy their 
bells and the laughing, singing, whistling passen- 
gers in the sled which had runners so smooth 
that pulling it was only a pleasure to the strong 
animals. 

Miss Broad met the performers at the door 
of the house. All the other little houses in the 
narrow street were alive with spectators to the 
arrival, for the fact that the children were to be 
entertained that afternoon was known to the 
neighborhood; indeed Miss Broad's small house 
was invaded by many grown-ups from the other 
small houses. 

'Hsn't this delightful!" cried Miss Broad. 


RESTING MERRY 


173 


“It doesn’t seem too late to wish you a Merry 
Christmas when you are coming to give my 
children the postscript to theirs!” 

“We’re resting merry, Miss Broad,” cried^ 
Nan, clearing the jump to the sidewalk and 
kissing Miss Broad lovingly. “Don’t you 
know? Mumsy — mother says the carol means 
^God keep you merry, gentlemen,’ so we’re 
resting merry over the next day 1 ” 

“Come in, everybody; we’re all agog for you 
within!” cried Miss Broad, receiving Mrs. Brett 
with a handclasp and a smile that told that these 
two recognized each other as of one kind. 

Wraps — ^though they were many — ^were dis- 
carded rapidly, and Ailsa seated herself at the 
piano. The children regarded her and Nan with 
round eyes of fervent admiration. Their little 
faces were shining from their mothers’ efforts 
and were so solemn, that it was evident they had 
no idea what to expect from an entertainment. 

Dins softly tuned his violin, Ham got out his 
cornet and tried it, with the result that the 
children relaxed a little. Nothing that was 
akin to a band could be bad, they seemed to 
feel! Gid’s concertina produced a cheerful 
effect and when little Jim brought forth some- 
thing from his pocket that looked like nothing 
they had ever seen but a potato, and began to 
blow soft notes out of it, a ripple of laughter ran 
over the room. The kindergartners were begin- 
ning to be entertained! 

“First, ladies and gentlemen of the Broad 
Highway to learning,” began Dins, who loved 


174 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


a burlesque speech. ^^And ladies and — ^ladies 
who are guests’^ — there were no men present — ■ 

we will give you the Hit-or-Miss March. 

Ailsa struck the opening chord, Dins shoulder- 
ed his fiddle, Ham put his cornet to his lips, 
Jimmy his ocarina, and Gid shook out his con- 
certina, and they were off, in a rollicking arrange- 
ment of “There’s a Girl in Havanna,” which 
was so familiar that it settled the question of 
the nature of the occasion for the children ; they 
were plainly intended to have fun! 

Just as the march was ending a man entered 
the school room, tall, queer, doubtful! His coat 
was greenish from the sun , his tie was flamboyant 
red, long and loose, his collar was a farce in 
itself, his trousers were too short, strapped 
down over his boots; they were a strongly 
marked stripe in design, but they were largely 
patched with a strong plaid, in such manner that 
the patch showed, as the old-fashioned coat tails 
flapped when the man walked. 

“Oh, mercy!” exclaimed Miss Broad under 
her breath, rising, startled, to her feet. But 
Mrs. Brett touched her arm and said something 
which made Miss Broad stop and stare at the 
intruder. 

“What do you want here?” demanded Dins, 
constituting himself spokesman and guardian 
of the party. 

“Let me varm a leetle,” said the man in an 
accent that was not English, nor decidedly any- 
thing else. 

“If we let you warm yourself what will you 


RESTING MERRY 


175 


do for us?’’ demanded Dins, to Nan’s horror. 
She thought that Dins was both impertinent in 
so thrusting himself forward, and unkind to the 
man, whose face she could not see, for it was 
concealed by the wide sombrero which he lacked 
manners to remove on entering. 

Could I to tootle a leetle? ” asked the tramp, 
producing a disjointed flute from his coat 
pockets. 

Then the girls guessed, they waited eagerly 
while Dins pretended to consult with Ham and 
Gid and Miss Broad. 

‘^You may play for us, if you can,” Dins 
announced. Whereupon the man, still hatted 
and bending forward the better to hide his face, 
began to play upon his flute bird songs and wood- 
land calls, and that part of the Brett company 
which had not been in the secret recognized him. 
For no one but their own Daddy Brett” could 
thus imitate bird songs on a flute. 

‘^You’re hired!” cried Dins, as the wanderer 
ended, and kindergarten shouted at this familiar 
slang. The man doffed his hat and threw it in 
the corner — and sure enough, it was indeed 

Daddy Brett,” come to surprise the girls and 
to take his part in the little Hit-or-Miss orches- 
tra! 

Then the performance began in earnest. The 
Hit-or-Miss Club played its best, the four girls 
sang, Mrs. Brett played for them, and the four 
big girls and the three boys and Mr. Brett 
danced a gavotte, which if not correct as to 
figures, was wholly satisfactory to the little 


176 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


audience, though it was impromptu on the spur 
of the moment. 

Then Ailsa danced a solo dance in her crimson 
chiffon, a dance so pretty that Miss Broad was 
almost tearfully happy watching it, for she was 
a child at heart among the little kindergartners. 

After this Nan sang, sweet Nan with the 
wonderful voice that no one could hear unmoved 
when she sang, as she now did, music as simply 
beautiful as Brahms’ Cradle Song” and the 
lovely German Silent Night.” 

The little children sat entranced, motionless as 
mice, till one little fellow, of German blood, 
piped up in reverent earnestness: ^^Say, is dat 
such an ancheUs song, what dey wass sinking 
last night ven ve vere to sleep, my mutter tolt 
me?” 

After that the spell of quiet was broken, but 
Miss Broad openly wiped her eyes, ignoring the 
tears on her cheeks as she thanked Nan with 
a look that was eloquent. 

“Master Jamie MacBrett will favor us with 
the Highland fling!” announced Dins, and he 
threw a broad plaid sash over his small brother’s 
shoulder, which Nan tied on the side. Ailsa 
clapped a Glengarry cap on the little boy’s head; 
it lit there rackishly askew, and added to the 
effect. 

Jimmie stepped forward, his face so solemn 
that nothing could have been less suggestive of 
a fling of any sort. Ailsa played with a spirit 
and enjoyment that ought to have enlivened any- 
one, but Jimmy maintained his gravity. He 


RESTING MERRY 


177 


weDt through the steps without a mistake, keep- 
ing perfect time and dancing well, but without 
so much as a flicker of an eyelid, his face so 
blankly grave, under the rakeish Glengarry, 
that all the older part of his audience went off 
into peals of laughter. 

The children joined in this laughter with 
rapturous poundings of their chairs and heel 
kickings on the floor; the last measures of Ailsa^s 
gay reel were drowned in noise. Jimmy’s fling 
was decidedly the success of the entertainment. 

I always told you 1 could do it,” said Jimmy 
to Tilly, in gloomy triumph, as he resumed his 
seat. And this quite finished his older comrades, 
who held the clue to Jimmy’s enthusiastic ap- 
plause. 

Tilly could not resist retorting. ‘^It’s only 
because you looked so killing, in that crazy 
Scotch cap, and not a smile on you an 3 rwhere!” 
she whispered. ^^Ailsa, you play the Sailor’s 
Hornpipe now, and I’ll show Jim something! 
He’s so conceited!” 

Nothing loath Ailsa dashed into the Sailor’s 
Hornpipe, and so did Tilly! 

Sticking her thumbs in what would have been 
her belt, had she one, she fairly leaped forward 
and began to dance. Not like Jimmy, glum and 
funereal, but nodding, laughing, waving her 
long arms, “twinkling,” as Gussie said, with 
her long, long legs, hauling on the ropes and 
hitching up her waistband, increasing in speed, 
till Ailsa’s fingers flew to accompany her and the 
applause was tremendous. 


178 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Now, Jimmy Brett, you needn’t think you’re 
the only lump of sugar in this bowl!” whispered 
Tilly, as well as she could manage a whisper, 
when she returned to her place without her. 
breath. 

By this time the kindergarten was in an up- 
roar. No more doubt now in the small pupils’ 
minds as to the nature of this occasion. They 
did the most extraordinary things by way of 
venting their delight, pummelled one another, 
screamed, sang, even cried a little, till Miss 
Broad saw that it was necessary to cool them off, 
somehow. 

Children, we are going to sing with this fine 
band!” she cried. ^^Play, my dears, play 
Marching Through Georgia, and Dixie, and 
we’ll gradually get them into sanity. Twins, 
dear, lead to the piano.” 

The funny little fat twins, looking for all the 
world like ‘Hhe Campbell Twins,” obeyed, and 
all the plump and lean little kindergarteners 
trooped up, sobered by coming so close to these 
radiant and gifted older young people. 

The babies’ singing was funny, for few of the 
small creatures had any ear for tune and none 
lacked a shrilly penetrating voice. But it was 
delightful, nevertheless; the small things were 
so happy, their voices were so chirping and 
birdlike, that such a trifle as time and tune did 
not matter. 

^^Now, haven’t we something for these won- 
derful visitors?” asked Miss Broad at last. 


RESTING MERRY 179 

''Eats!’' shouted a boy of four, proud of 
koowiDg the answer. 

"Where are the four that learned to carry the 
little round dining room?" asked Miss Broad, 
and the twins and two others, swelling visibly, 
stepped out from the ranks. 

They followed Miss Broad out of the room. 
Presently they returned, all of the four bearing 
together what Miss Broad had christened "the 
little round dining room." 

It was a tray, covered with a shiny napkin 
and filled with delectable little cakes that must 
have been hard for their bearers to resist. A 
maid followed with lemonade and Miss Broa(J 
herself with two dishes of simple candies. 

"What were we to say?" suggested Miss 
Broad. 

"Thank you. It was fine!" shouted all the 
small voices stragglingly. 

"You taught them to thank us before you 
knew what we’d do! What a risk to run!" 
cried Ailsa. 

It had not been a brilliant afternoon; nothing 
great was done, nothing interesting had hap- 
pened. But every minute of it had been 
"resting merry," in truth. Why? Ailsa won- 
dered. She wondered a great deal that winter 
over similar problems. 

Miss Broad unconsciously answered her ques- 
tion. Drawing Nan and Ailsa apart from the 
others she said: 

"You’ve been such dear, kind children to give 
an afternoon of the holidays to these little 


180 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


children ! You see how happy you made them. 
If only everybody kept Christmas — and kept 
it all the year round! — ^by doing small kindnesses! 
It is such a happy way to go through life ! 

“I was wondering why this was so nice to- 
day— for us, I mean,’’ said Ailsa. 

^^It’s dear to be among little children who 
haven’t much fun on Christmas,” said Nan. 

I suppose it is because we feel Bethlehem, even 
when we aren’t exactly thinking about it.” 

Dear little Nannie,” said Miss Broad. You 
understand! I believe I’ll tell you, my dears, 
that you have done more for me than you know, 
more than for the children.” 

‘^I reaUy enjoyed this afternoon, and yet this 
morning I heard that almost all I had in the 
world was lost and I was feeling sad.” 

^^Lost! Miss Amabel!” gasped Nan. 

^^You mean money?” said Ailsa, shocked. 

Money, my own home, everything, if the 
first report is true,” returned Miss Broad. ^‘I 
couldn’t have made the children happy to-day, 
but now I see that, whatever has happened, 
there will be a great many happy days left to 
me.” 

'^What will you do?” cried Ailsa. Nan’s 
arms were around Miss Broad’s neck, but the 
others were looking toward them and Miss 
Broad unclasped them gently, turning from the 
girls with a smile that showed no trace of being 
forced. 

^‘Live right here with my babies, from 
necessity, just as cheerfully as I lived here from 


RENTING MERRY 


181 


choice, dear girls, she said. comiog to 

see, what I always knew, that one cao do with 
very little — ^provided he has a good deal, a good 
deal of the best thiogs. IVe had a merry after- 
Doon, and indeed I^m grateful to you! Let me 
do something for you one of these fine days, 
chickabiddies! And don’t look so frightened 
and white, dearies! Indeed I shall be content. 
Don’t you know you told me it was: ^ God rest 
you merry, gentlemen?” I’ll be kept merry; 
never fear!” 

She smiled brightly, but the girls could not 
smile back again. All this afternoon, and not a 
cloud on the serene, thin, angular, plain, yet 
beautiful face! 

“ Surely there are great things and great people 
in the world,” thought Ailsa, “people whose 
splendor shone from within.” Silent, thought- 
ful, grave, yet with a glimmering perception of 
having had a glimpse of a mountain height, 
Ailsa and Nan rode home in the straw from the 
long-projected concert. 


Chapter XI 

DRAMATICS 

the world^s a stage/ Ailsa casually 
quoted^ forgetting the ink on her finger and 
branding herself with it by wiping it on her fore- 
head when she pushed the hair out of her eyes. 

^^^And men and women merely players/” 
Nan capped her quotation. 

You have to make it measly players, likely, 
when it^s boys and^girls,” suggested Dins. 

‘^The players will be all right, if ever we can 
get a play,” said Ailsa. '^l^d no idea it would 
be so hard! It wouldn’t be, either, if it was only 
getting a plot and writing the play. But we’ve 
got to find the plot and write the play, give 
everybody a part to suit each taste and then fit 
in clothes and things! Kit and I are nearly 
crazy. Tilly has to be in it, and if we don’t give 
her a funny part, something she has to tear 
around in, she’ll simply be wasted. Then .Kit 
has made the job worse by setting her heart on 
a frilly apron to wear. I told her she’d got to 
think up her own part. I can’t write for ruffles!” 

“Sounds like sending an order to a dry goods 
store,” said Dins. “Poor little Auntie! I’m 
glad I’m not clever. Say, 1 can’t keep from 
thinking about Miss Broad.” 

“Oh, neither can I!” cried Ailsa, throwing 


DRAMATICS 


183 


down her peo as a visible expression of the pre- 
ponderance of this interest over the play. But 
don^t you think Gus will be able to do any- 
thing?’^ 

Father? I didn’t know he thought he 
could: what is it? I haven’t heard,” said Dins. 

^^Oh, haven’t you?” said Ailsa. '^He went 
to see Miss Broad and made her tell him all 
about it. There’s somebody she has trusted 
and he is not honest. Your father says he has 
invested badly, apparently, but he suspects he 
has really taken that dear, lovely Miss Broad’s 
money himself! Gus says he is going to try his 
best to make him restore part of it, at least.” 

‘'Wish him luck!” exclaimed Dins fervently. 
“You know that’s just like Mr. Augustus! He 
doesn’t make a fuss about it, but he quietly 
pitches in when he sees anyone in need of being 
fought for; he does loads of things for other 
people in a sort of a just-happened-to-be-here-so 
thought-I’d-drop-in way! I don’t suppose you 
can be a knight errant in mixed cloth business 
suits and clawhammers, going to business every 
day, but if you could, that’s what Sir Augustus 
Brett would be.” 

“Good for you. Dins!” cried Ailsa enthusi- 
astically. “I’m awfully glad you can warm up 
like that about your own father! Of course you 
can be a knight errant in a serge suit, just as well 
as you can in armor. I could better!” and 
Ailsa, characteristically, giggled, though she was 
thoroughly in earnest. 

“Father will help Miss Broad if anyone can,” 


184 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


said Nan with conviction. went to see 

her, Dins; did you know it?’’ 

^^No; when?” asked Dins. 

Yesterday, mother, Ailsa and I,” Nan con- 
tinued. “She’s perfectly wonderful! She’s 
planning to give up her own beautiful home as 
cheerfully as if it were to go to Mount Desert 
next summer. It iso ’t as though there were any- 
one but myself,” she told mumsy. If these little 
kindergarteners were my own children it would 
be another matter: I might be sorry to have 
less for them. But one elderly person can end 
her days in one place as well as another. I spent 
my winters here among the children; why not 
live here altogether? I felt rather sad at first, 
but I’m getting reconciled to it now. Is it quite 
right, Mary, to grumble when one has enough 
to keep warm and fed; so many are miserable?” 
she asked mumsy.” 

“I suppose if it comes to taking it like a 
saint!” said Dins, with a shake of the head that 
completed his unfinished sentence, plainly de- 
claring that human nature rested on an earthly 
level more often than it soared. 

“Dins, she takes it precisely that way!” said 
Nan softly. “When mumsy suggested that the 
house where she has the school was dreadfully 
tiny, in a poor neighborhood, among humble, 
uncongenial people, that blessed woman said, 
as simply as if we all practised just what we 
preached and are taught: 'I’ve no doubt it is 
decidedly larger and better than the house in 
Nazareth, Mary, and not only the neighbors, 


DRAMATICS 


185 


but the inmates of that house were humble 
working people/ You couldn’t say a thing after 
that! Mumsy didn’t try to 5 she just kissed 
Miss Broad and said : ^ Let me and my children 
come occasionally to learn of you iu this little 
house, Miss Amabel/ I’ll tell you the truth, 
Dins; Ailsa and 1 just cried right out loud! ” 

Dins whistled a brief strain, then he said — and 
he had not yet whistled his voice into perfect 
steadiness: She’s great all right! ” 

Privately he was hastily considering the ways 
in which he might possibly make himself useful 
to Miss Broad for the rest of the winter. 

The girls smiled at each other with under- 
standing of the boy’s shortage in adjectives, in 
self-expression in anywise, as Dins strolled out 
of the room. 

It’s good for him,” said Nan, nodding mater- 
nally, not making clear that she meant ‘^good 
for him to hear of Miss Broad’s courage and 
goodness,” but Ailsa understood. 

^^It’s good for all of us,” she said. ^^Nan, for 
pity’s sake, are Kitty and I writing a play or 
are we not?” 

I don’t know what Kit is doing this moment, 
but I couldn’t truthfully say you were,” said 
Nan. It’s too bad, Ailie; we might give it up.” 

Ailsa snatched up the discarded pen and pad; 
the suggestion of abandoning the play inspired 
her, as far as that, to new effort. 

^^Give it up! No, indeed!” she cried. Then 
she added in a drooping voice: ‘^1 don’t have 
to give it up; it has given me up.” 


186 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Nan laughed, but looked sympathetic. 

^^Haveu^t you thought of the plot?’’ she 
asked. 

‘^No, 1 haven’t,” said Ailsa. ^'Neither has 
Kit. We tried together — ^do use! So we agreed 
to try separately — still do use! I feel as though 
I might work — ^write the dialogue— if 1 knew 
what it would be about.” 

^'1 was thinking,” began Nan slowly, and 
Ailsa looked up with a ray of hope. think 
you ought to be a gypsy — I mean a white child — 
Why, g^’-psies are white people! I wonder what 
is the word for people, opposite to gypsy? Any- 
way, you know what I mean ! A girl that had 
been stolen by gypsies in babyhood. Your 
mother would be dead, mother and father, and 
you would be the heir to a fortune — of course, 
because no child stolen by gypsies ever is any- 
thing else.” 

would be a noble countess, or duchess — ■ 
duchess ! It’s j ust as easy to make it the biggest ! 
Maybe a princess! Go on, Nannie!” cried 
Ailsa, who was drinking in these developments 
thirstily, at once seeing that anything like a 
gypsy part would suit her. With that Qiought, 
however, came another one. 

Nannie, wait a minute! Why should I look 
so much like a gypsy — ^that’s why you say I’m 
to take that girl part of course — ^when I’m really 
not one?” 

“Caught it from long residence with the 
tribe,” explained Nan promptly. “Mona can 
be the devoted sister who finds you, and Kit can 


DRAMATICS 


187 


be the wicked woman who has stolen your title. 
1^11 be a queen who has to restore it to you — 
that won’t give me much acting — and Tilly 
might be the gypsy woman, raging and raving 
because she had to lose you — she’d be half funny 
and half good in that! And the boys— Oh mej 
what shall the boys be?” 

‘^Dins must be the hero, the man I marry, 
because he’s the best looking and most dashing,” 
cried Ailsa, erect by this time and her eyes 

going in and out” Nan thought. ‘^He can 
help to find the stolen girl, out of family friend- 
ship, and when he finds her he must fall in love 
with her at sight. Ham and Gid — don’t 
know! I suppose one can be an assistant vil- 
lain, and one had better be the gypsy’s hus- 
band.” ^^And Jimmy? You’ve got to put Jimmy 
in, if you do, Tilly,” said Nan. 

^^Jimmy ought to be a priest, he’s so solemn? 
Oh, Nan, I know! A big wedding tableau at 
the end and Jimmy marrying us! ” cried Ailsa. 

^^He wouldn’t,” said Nan decidedly. 
know James! He’d rather be something tragic, 
like the one who kills the villian, to rescue you.” 

^^Fine!” cried Ailsa, by this time in a white 
flame of enthusiasm. ^^Nan, 1 didn’t think you 
had it in you! Jimmy can be the faithful re- 
tainer of the noble family and he can stab the 
villian in the dark, after the girl is found and the 
villian is creeping in to slay her and so keep the 
title for his wife. Oh, mercy, I never thought! 
How can Kit wear her apron as the villianess? 
You can’t be a villainess with a stolen title and 


188 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


wear a little dinky apron ! That apron wouldnT 
go in this play, anywhere.” 

^^Then Kit must give up the apron,” said Nan 
decidedly. ^^It is silly to try to get in every- 
body and then all their clothes, beside. I think 
that could be a pretty decent play — if we could 
act it.” 

we could write it and act it,” amended 
Ailsa. ‘‘1 think it would be and well go hunt 
up the others and ask them what they think of 
it. Of course our idea was to have a play more 
hke everyday life.” Ailsa^s first enthusiasm 
suffered a slight diminution. 

Everyday life is harder to write and act,” 
said Nan, revealing unexpected critical percep- 
tions. That has to be quiet and nice-mannered 
and, at the same time, interesting. It would be 
hard for us to do. And anything funny you 
simply canT do, unless you make it a minstrel 
show. I think something not likely, and with 
grand and elegant stagey costumes, is easier, 
and surer to be some good.” 

^^Nan, what a sensible thing you are! Why 
haven’t you said a word before? You’ve all but 
planned the whole thing!” cried Ailsa, getting 
up to go at once to confer with her fellow author 
and actors. 

was thinking about it, and the play seemed 
somewhere around, but I couldn’t catch it till 
you looked up a while ago and you looked so 
gypsified that it came to me in a flash,” said Nan , 
not a little gratified to find herself also a collabor- 
ator. 


DRAMATICS 


189 


You know that^s the thing that bothers me” 
said Ailsa, pausing in the doorway. ^^Why 
should 1, when I^m merely stolen by the — Why, 
Nan ! I see now! J ust switch the parts around! 
One of you others be the heroine and 111 be a 
real gypsy!’’ 

You must be the heroine,” said Nan firmly, 
won’t and can’t, and Mona and Kit can’t, 
whether they will or won’t. You can be and 
must be.” 

^^Nan, I’ll leave it to you: How will it look 
for us to plan the play, and I do most of the 
writing, and still give me tiie best part?” 

^^Make the other parts better than the 
heroine’s, if you want to, but you must be that 
noble stolen-found lady,” declared Nan. 

Nan’s play was accepted with enthusiasm, 
greater that it had begun to look as though 
there might not be a play of any sort, Kitty’s 
inventive powers having proved as refractory 
as Ailsa’s. She and Ailsa set to work at once 
to write it. They began with a plan for five 
acts, but they cut them down to three, which 
dropped into two when they encountered 
the difficulty of scenic settings, as Kit firmly 
insisted on giving each act a new scene. A 
forest for the gypsies and a palace for the nobility 
strained their resources severely, so the play was 
finally divided into but two acts. Dialogue 
writing, also, proved unexpectedly difficult, 
especially that the two playwrights wrote in 
distinctly different styles, with opposite con- 
ception of aims. When the collaborators were 


190 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


discouraged and so tired that the air was full of 
the danger of fuss’^ Jinamy sensibly solved 
the difficulty. 

‘^Don^t write the play/^ he advised. Let’s 
talk it, make it up as we go along. It’ll go better 
and be easier.” 

^^The kid has hit it!” cried Dins. “We’ll be- 
gin to rehearse and talk our play and we’ll take 
notes of what we say, so we’ll be able to do the 
same things agaio, and after a try or two we’ll 
have a play talked instead of written. It’ll be 
more limber and have more snap in it. We’ll 
begin right off.” 

From that time “The Romany Duchess” — 
Dins had named the play and everybody felt 
that nothing in it could be expected to reach up 
to the perfection of its name — ‘was a source of 
boundless pleasure and it went on in leaps and 
strides to its end. The only difficulty was to 
keep the dialogue from increasing. It was a 
great temptation to the author-actors to add 
new pathos, tragedy, or wit to its lines, having 
“got the hang,” as Gid put it, of constructing 
lines. The management. Dins, Ailsa, Kit and 
Nan, had to forbid the slightest further addition 
to the text, or the play would have gone on 
growing till it would have had to have been 
given on successive nights, like the Niebelunlied 
Lied, Wagner’s “ Ring” operas. 

When the text of the play was finally made up 
all the actors wrote down their lines and they 
had the play type written in order that Mrs. 
Brett should have a prompt book. She was 


DRAMATICS 


191 


to be the prompter od the great night, for 
though everybody was letter perfect at rehears- 
als — as they should be, considering that they 
were all joint authors — it would not do to risk 
the effect of excitement on the memory when the 
play was given. Indeed, the joint authorship 
made it harder to remember, because there had 
been so much adding to and taking out of lines 
while the play was growing that almost every 
speech in it might have been something else. 

‘^We could prompt one another,’’ said Mona 
dubiously when they were discussing the ex- 
pense of having the play type written. ^^We 
know one another’s parts.” 

‘^Too risky,” said Ailsa decidedly. ^^Each 
of us would keep still, thinking someone else was 
going to prompt. Besides, Molly-Mary Brett 
has to be in this play somehow; there’s no fun 
in anything that leaves her out.” 

'"What I want to know,” cried Kit, '4s what 
we’re giving this play for.” 

For fun,” said Dins promptly. 

"Of course^ but we’ve got to have an object, 
a charity or something, if we want to sell tickets, 
and there’s no fun in inviting people to see it; 
you’ve got to sell tickets to make it interesting,” 
Kit persisted. 

"To whom, actors or audience?” inquired 
Nan. ^'But you’re right, Kitty Machree; an 
object and tickets sold for it would make the 
whole thing fine and real thingish.” 

"I have it! I know!” cried Ailsa springing 
to her feet, upsetting Middy from the cushion 


192 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


beside her and starting Peggy to bark wildly 
by the lively dance she executed. We’ll ask 
Miss Broad.” 

To come? ” inquired Mona at sea as to Ailsa’s 
meaning. 

“No — ^that, too, maybe. 1 mean we’ll ask 
Miss Broad what to use the money for. She 
is sure to know lots of good objects. And, girls, 
maybe she could give the money for us; she’ll 
have to stop being charitably extravagant now, 
and maybe she’d like to have some money to use 
for some pet object,” cried Ailsa, her idea ex- 
panding. 

“We went to Miss Broad’s kindergarten to 
give our silly Christmas circus when we couldn’t 
think of anywhere to offer it. Are we going to 
use Miss Broad as a sort of fire escape? It’s a 
little sneaky to pretend to be charitable, when 
all we care about is the racket,” said Dins. 

“We don’t mind if somebody gets something 
good out of it,” remarked Tilly, so seriously 
that the older ones laughed, and Nan said, re- 
plying to the question wrapped up in Dins’ 
speech: 

“We couldn’t have a safer fire escape, if we 
did use Miss Broad for one. I don’t believe 
it’s any harm for us to care most about the fun 
of the thing; it’s so natural when you’re young. 
Maybe, by and by, we’ll grow up far enough to 
think first of doing good.” 

“And, as Tilly says. We don’t mind doing it 
now,” laughed Ailsa. “ If we’re to consult Miss 
Broad why not go right away? We ought to 


DRAMATICS 


193 


get our tickets ready aud give the play as soon 
as we can. We are ready, and if we keep on 
rehearsing it we^ll get so sick of it all the decent 
acting will ooze right out of it.” 

Who’ll go?” asked Mona, looking sugges- 
tively at Dins. 

Ladies first,” said Dins, with a bow. You 
girls attend to it. You’re better at finding ways 
to spend money than boys ever are.” 

/^My goodness, it would take tons of candy 
and tanks of soda water and mountains of 
chewing gum to equal one motor bicycle!” cried 
Kit with spirit; she considered her weakness for 
these luxuries attacked, so came back at Dins’ 
present greatest earthly desire. 

Who said anything about soda, or candy, or 
gum? Sheathe your claws, Kitty 1 By the way, 
what’s the matter with using the proceeds of the 
play to buy a motor cycle for a deserving youth, 
who never has held a job in his life? asked Dins. 

I wish we could divide them up for whatever 
we each want,” said Mona candidly, running 
after the other girls, who were already half way 
up stairs to prepare to go in search of Miss 
Broad. 

At their own corner Mona and Kit 
dropped out of the deputation. 

^^We don’t know Miss Broad as well as Nan 
does, and there are too many, anyway. You 
go on. Nannie and Ailie, and tell us what she 
says to-night when we come to your house to 
write up the tickets. We can do it to-night, if 
Miss Broad tells you what to say the money is 


194 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


for/’ said Mona, looking admiringly at Ailsa’s 
becoming hat. do think, Ailsa Brett, you’re 
the dearest thing in that hat ! ” 

^'Run along, little girl; you’re dropping your 
taffy!” cried Ailsa, who refused to take serious- 
ly Mona’s inclination to ‘^gush” at times. 

Ailsa and Nan found Miss Broad a little 
changed. It was not possible for the loss that 
had befallen her to leave her quite unmoved. 
The strong face that was beautiful in its plain- 
ness, looked thinner, with shadows under the 
eyes, and a deeper look of patience around the 
lips. But those eyes were calm and clear as 
ever, with the light in them un dimmed and the 
firm, warm mouth smiled as cheerfully at the 
girls when they came up the steps and *Miss 
Broad hastened to admit them herself, as if 
such trifles as impoverishment did not exist. 

^^An object for which to raise money, my 
dears?” Miss Broad cried, with her whimsical 
smile. ^^Such an easy thing to suggest many; 
such a difiicult thing to select one! What queer 
little mortals you are! Not satisfied to go on 
and have a good time for its own sake, and en- 
tirely justifiably, but trying to spin your top on 
a monument, so to illustrate! This is the 
second time you’ve come to me for an excuse to 
have a merrymaking!” 

‘^No, not exactly an excuse for a merry- 
making, but an excuse for tickets to it. Miss 
Broad,” said Nan earnestly. ^‘You can’t sell 
tickets just to sell them ; they must be for some- 
thing, and its a thousand times more fun to have 


DRAMATICS 


195 


tickets to a play. So isn’t there a charity you 
can suggest?” 

‘^No end of them, Nanette!” declared Miss 
Broad. Why not make a fund for the baby? ” 
What baby, Miss Broad?” asked Nan. 
Don’t you know about her? I thought your 
father would have told you. The tiny girl, six 
weeks old, whose father was killed on the rail- 
road before she was born and whose girl-mother 
died when she was a day old. I meant to adopt — 
We are trying to raise a fund for her, enough to 
keep her out of an asylum,” said Miss Broad, 
checking herself, but not tiU the word adopt” 
had told Ailsa and Nan that Miss Broad’s change 
of fortune had deprived this baby of an ideal 
adopted mother. 

‘^Poor little mite!” cried Nan, as Ailsa said. 
There couldn’t be a dearer object for youngsters 
like us to work for ! We’ll do it. Miss Broad. I 
wonder if we might ask fifty cents for the tickets? 
We wouldn’t have dared, but as long as it’s to 
be for the baby — ^We might go from house fo 
house with the tickets ourselves, Nan, and tell 
everybody about the poor tot. What do you 
think? ” 

think so,” said Nan, not too lucidly. 
Thank you lots and lots. Miss Broad. I knew 
you’d know something for us to do ! 1 wish after 
the play was over we could do something for 
that baby! Could we see her? And could we — • 
I don’t know what! Form a society and sew 
for her? Do something, anyway? ” 

Bless your little heart, Nannie, of course 


196 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


you could! Well orgaoize the Joint Guardians, 
or some such titled society, and you shall have 
a share in the solitary petal. A baby left alone 
like this always makes me think of one tiny 
severed petal, floating at the mercy of the waves 
on the surface of a stream, doesn’t it you?” 
asked Miss Broad. 

never has, but it always will after this,” 
said loving Nan, with quick tears of sympathy 
in her eyes, as she kissed Miss Broad. ^^If 
father can — do what he wants to, maybe the 
little baby won’t need us.” 

Miss Broad shook her head at Nan. Don’t 
suggest hopes. Nan. 1 had so meant and 
wanted to look after the little thing! But I 
hope to look after her, though 1 cannot support 
her. Ah, well! We never can see with our 
bodily eyes the pattern side of the tapestry 
which our lives are weaving; we never know why, 
but we know there is a why 
. Alisa walked on in a profound study for a 
block after they had left Miss Broad. Then 
shelooked up. ^^Nan, she said energetically, 

if I have enough left when I get things straight- 
ened up, I believe I’ll support that baby my- 
seh!” 

^^You!” cried Nan with pardonable amaze- 
ment. ^Tf you’d been the maiden aunt we 
thought you, you might have, but a snip of a 
girl like you! And what do you mean by your 
having enough left? Your mother’s money 
isn’t yours, Ailie. And what are you going to 
straighten up?” 


DRAMATICS 


197 


^^Such a lot of questions! They sound like 
an air gun. And I’m not going to answer one 
of them, my dear little niece, because they’re 
all part of one secret— and 1 don’t know it my- 
self yet, not surely! Some day you’ll know,” 
said Ailsa mysteriously. 

^^Now you’re behaving like a maiden aunt. 
Run away, child, and play; you’ll know when 
you’re grown up!” cried Nan, with half real, half 
feigned impatience. 

That night the authors and actors of ^^The 
Romany Duchess” waived the usual nightly 
rehearsal and bent their minds and hands to the 
making of tickets, for now that the play not only 
had an object in giving, but an object that 
seized the hearts of these young folk and filled 
them with a burning desire to save the baby 
from an asylum, it was highly important to 
economize on printing. 

“The Romany Duchess,” headed each ticket 
in large letters, brushed in with Indian ink. 
“An Original Play, Written and Acted by the 
Brett Dramatic Association. For the Benefit 
of a Homeless Orphan Baby. 50 Cents,” 
followed, written plainly, but without unnecess- 
ary elaboration. A hundred tickets were pre- 
pared, and the Brett Dramatic Association 
found its task all that it wanted to do before 
it was done. 

The next day all the dramatic company set 
out to canvas Renwyck with the tickets. 

Nobody to whom they went refused to buy; 
most people bought two. At night the hundred 


198 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


tickets were all gone and those who asked had 
been assured that on the great night — now but 
four days distant — admittance without tickets 
might be effected if they paid at the door. It 
really looked as though the play was to be a 
financial success. Already fifty dollars were in 
hand for the baby. 

Ailsa was fired with enthusiasm , fear and reso- 
lution. “If they all buy like this, even if it is 
because they know Gus and Molly-Mary, or 
are interested in the baby, weVe simply got to 
act like — like Siddonses!^^ 

“What are Siddooses, Ailsa? asked Jimmy, 
mistaking it for a common noun. 

“Mrs. Siddons was a very great English 
actress who lived ever so long ago, when Doctor 
Johnson was living, and Sir Joshua Reynolds; 
he painted her portrait,^^ said Ailsa. 

“I^d rather act like some man,’^ said serious 
Jimmy ,more than ever serious. 

“If you^re gong to play your own part, and 
fight the gypsy man and rescue me, you^d bet- 
ter,’’ laughed Ailsa. “Mercy, Nan, I’m posi- 
tively choking when I think of it!” 

“I’m not choking, because my throat gets 
so nervous tight it won’t even choke,” returned 
Nan. 

So with the greatest trepidation, yet with 
consuming impatience, the members of the 
Brett Dramatic Association awaited the pre- 
sentation of “The Romany Duchess.” 


Chapter XII 

'^THE ROMANY DUCHESS^’ 

ReDwyck was interested in the success of the 
play beyond merely buying tickets for it, 
generously as it did that. When the boys of 
the Brett Dramatic Association went to the 
lumber yard to see how cheap boards could be 
had to put a raised flooring for the stage at the 
end of the long Brett house parlor, Mr. Abner 
Coolbaugh, the proprietor of the yard, offered 
to lend lumber for this purpose. 

'^I guess I can use such lengths over and over 
again; folks is always looking for boards about 
twenty feet long — you said the room was twenty 
foot wide? The^d come in good for ’most any 
porch flooring, and I guess your footprints ain’t 
going to mar ’em much. I’ll send around enough 
that length, ploughed and grooved boards, to 
make a stage the width you say and a man along 
to help put it in. Then I’ll send after ’em to 
rip ’em up and haul ’em back here the next day. 
They’ll be as good as ever,^’ he said. 

We’ll be more obliged to you than I can tell 
you, Mr. Coolbaugh,” said Dins. You see we 
aren’t going to ask any of our families to help 
us out with the expenses of the play, so the 
lower we keep them the more money there’ll be 
to hand over for the support of the child we’re — 


200 THE LITTLE AUNT 

we^re going to hand it over for,” Dins ended 
lamely. 

^^Well, that was the way I wa looking at it/’ 
agreed Mr. Coolbaugh. use the boards 

again, fast enough, but if there is any odd feet 
wasted fitting ’em somewhere afterward. I’ll just 
set ’em down, with my man’s time and the 
team’s hauling, to the account of the widows and 
orphans, though this baby’s far and away from 
the widow age, ’s I take it. Girl, ain’t it?” 

“Yes, so she may be a widow some day. Her 
mother was widowed; her father was killed on 
the railroad,” said Dins. “It’s mighty nice of 
you, Mr. Coolbaugh.” 

“You’re welcome,” replied Mr. Coolbaugh, 
with indirect appropriateness. “ I’U just set the 
loan of boards down in the ledger I keep in my 
mind as : “ Planks for rescuing one orphan baby 

from the asylum.” 

The next day the stage was set up, Mr. Cool- 
baugh’s man directing the work which the boys 
eagerly performed, while the girls blissfully 
looked on, finding the scent of pine deliciously 
intoxicating when it arose from the flooring of 
their own stage, upon which they were to act 
their own play. 

“First we built the play and now the stage is 
built. It was something like driving in first one 
nail and then another to talk the play into 
shape the way we did,” said Ailsa later, when 
she and Nan were on their knees brushing up 
shavings after the carpenter had gone. 


^THE ROMANY DUCHESS’’ 201 

only we hit the eail on the head when we 
give the play!” sighed Nan. 

there anyone on earth but MoUy-Mary 
who would give up her best carpet to a stage 
over it and not care a speck? ” asked Ailsa, lying 
flat to pull out a shaving that had withdrawn 
half way under the stage. 

She’s a nice little lump of sweetness and 
mumsiness, as we’ve often decided, but pine 
shavings and sawdust won’t harm a carpet,” 
said Nan, pulling herself to her feet. 

^^Come on now; that’s good enough. We 
have to sweep thoroughly after the stage is taken 
down. We ought to hurry on with the scenery.” 

^^The scenery” had a fine, professional sound, 
but the truth was that it was hardly professional 
scenery. The forest for the gypsy scenes was 
indicated, rather than portrayed by deep folds 
of green cheesecloth, its color carefully dyed by 
Mona’s mother, who had obligingly offered to 
take it off the hands of the Brett Dramatic 
Association after the play, to use as curtains in 
her summer cottage. Potted plants — -not too 
many, for the stage space was not unlimited, 
arranged with elaborate carelessness to get the 
best effect with the least danger of tripping over 
them, further indicated to the audience that 
this was a care-free woods, where the gypsies 
lived their unrestrained lives of merry fortune 
telling, mingled with child-stealing to which 
latter industry they owed the possession of the 
beautiful Romany Duchess — ^Ailsa. 

The palace to which the duchess was later to 


202 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


return, under the protection of her sovereign, 
the queen, was not less simple than the forest. 
The Dramatic Association's first ambition to 
set the palace with ^^more than oriental splen- 
dor’^ yielded to the limitations of space. They 
compromised on a throne regal in wine colored 
canton flannel hangings and genuine, hand- 
made white canton flannel ermine, a statue or 
two, a few good rugs and three of the most 
palatial, yet not wide-spreading, chairs that the 
residences of the actors could provide. Scene 
shifting was thus simplified and expedited and 
the effect seen from the audience, represented 
at the final rehearsal by Mr. Brett and Mrs. 
Brett, the prompter, was pronounced wonder- 
fully good. 

The night of the play dawned — it was a 
brilliant, full-moon night so it is almost correct 
to say that it dawned” — and the audience 
crowded the front room, which the actors called 
^^the orchestra;” the stage was set on the other 
side of the folding doors, in the rear of the long 
double parlors. 

The whispering behind the curtain increased 
as actor after actor made ready and came from 
the dressing room to peep through a hole which 
Tilly, with admirable forethought, had made in 
the curtain for peeping purposes. Every seat 
was taken, people were standing around the 
walls, grouped in the doorway. There were 
more present than had bought tickets; the in- 
quiries as to admittance by payment at the 
doors had not been idle curiosity. 


^THE ROMANY DUCHESS” 


203 


Tlie actors were so excited that Mrs. Brett^s 
office of prompter bade fair to be no sinecure. 
Ailsa trembled so that it was with difficulty 
that she controlled her hands to play the over- 
ture. In their costumes behind the scenes the 
members of the Dramatic Association, who were 
also members of the Hit-or-Miss Club, aug- 
mented by Mr. Brett’s flute, played the over- 
ture with praise- worthy spirit, considering their 
over-wrought nerves. 

The overture ended with a great burst of 
sound, completely drowned, however, by the 
applause of the audience. 

The orchestra— or Mr. Brett and Gid— flew 
to their posts on either side of the curtain, 
which rolled up with some hitches, but with 
fewer on the whole, than is usual to curtains 
serving amateur performances. 

Mona, the devoted sister of the lost duchess, 
was discovered sitting at her embroidery before 
the throne, upon which Nan, the queen, re- 
clined in regal indifference, as well as in regal 
magnificence of robes, while Kit, the usurping 
duchess, read aloud from a highly decorative 
volume of poetry, bound in red velvet with a 
design of fleur de lis applied on the cover by 
Mrs. Brett, who had been the chief costumer and 
property man of the play. It was cut from 
cretonne and so nicely pasted on the velvet that 
even opera glasses, which no one used in this 
private theatre, would have revealed that it was 
not embossed. 

Just how Kit, and not the duchess’ sister, had 


204 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


come by the lost duchess’ title was not made 
clear, but somehow she had usurped it. She 
was arrogant in her manner in order to live up 
to her title, and to her position as first court 
lady to Queen Madrella, whose name was the 
proud invention of Tilly, who insisted upon its 
use. Kit was gorgeous in crimson robes with 
much gold decoration} they more than com- 
pensated for the apron of which she had been 
deprived. Pretty Nan was really a lovely 
majesty in her flowing white, with jewels galore, 
strung in chains and glistening from the square 
yoke of her gown, falling from her wrists aed 
sparkling in her hair. It is amazing how beads 
and tinsel can glitter when they are judiciously 
applied! 

Mona wore violet and green to harmonize 
with her melancholy in the loss of her noble 
sister. It was cotton crepon, but it looked like 
anything dignified and mediaeval. 

As the curtain rose Mona stirred and sighed 
and Kit, frowning on her haughtily, laid down 
her book, as the queen asked gently”: ‘‘Why dost 
thou sigh, sweet Lady Leila?” This was the cue 
for Mona to relate the events which had pre- 
ceded the opening of the play, the loss of her 
sister and her ceaseless mourning for her, upon 
which the plot turned. 

The Duchess Malora — ^her name was Ailsa’s 
construction, and she prided herself upon it, 
as its syllables meant “evil prayer” she insisted 
— the Duchess Malora, present incumbent of 
the lost duchess’ estates, moved uneasily and 


‘‘THE ROMANY DUCHESS’’ 205 

scowled frightfully during this recitation, to 
indicate her wrathful dread of discovery. 

“Does not this story irk your naajesty?’’ she 
inquired pointedly, as Lady Leila ended. “We 
have heard it often and it is as stale as the song 
of a stuffed bird.” 

This speech was Dins^ contribution to the 
dialogue and he, at least, admired it. 

“Not so,” replied the gentle Queen Madrella. 
“Though we appreciate thy devotion to our 
person. Lady Malora, yet are we grieved that 
she who had been Duchess of Dorramanca, had 
she not been lost and left the title to thee who 
DOW graces it, has so disappeared in her child- 
hood, leaving our well-beloved Lady Leila with 
a life-long sorrow.” 

This somewhat cloudy speech moved the Lady 
Leila to tears. “Oh,” she cried, “my liege and 
sovereign lady, thy royal sympathy is as balm 
to my tear- worn eyes. Complete thy clemency ! 
Grant me thy royal consent to go in search of 
my dearest sister, for whom I have grieved these 
twenty years. Tliough she was but three years 
old when she disappeared, yet something tells 
me that I should know her were I to come upon 
her. 1 was but twice a twelvemonth her senior, 
yet well do I remember the strange mark upon 
her soft left arm, high toward her dimpling 
shoulder, where it would not disfigure her. Her 
father, my step-father, the noble Duke of 
Dorramanca, for she is not my sister in full 
kin, though to the fullest in love, caused her to 
be tattoed in babyhood. He was mirthful, and 


206 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


well do I remember the humor of that day, when 
he said: peach art thou, little Lady Grac- 

iella, and as good peaches are brandied, so shalt 
thou be branded.’ He caused her to be marked 
with the design of a lily, for she was the lily 
of the noble house of Dorramanca.” Mona 
hurried this speech slightly; it was Ham’s 
witticism and the girls did not like it, feeling 
that slangy puns were not in keeping with ducal 
dignity. ''Let me, oh my Queen, depart in 
quest of my sister, the Lady Graciella.” Mona 
arose and threw herself at Queen Madrella’s 
feet, taking sly care that her own feet should be 
gracefully covered with her train, as she knelt 
with her back toward the audience. 

The queen bent forward and raised her court 
lady with a kiss upon her cheek. 

"Go, sweet Lady Leila,” she said. "Thou 
hast our consent, our blessing and our hopes, 
though our obligation to speak the truth com- 
pels that we tell thee that our hope is slender. 
The Lady Graciella must long since be dead.” 

"Say not so,” sobbed the Lady Leila. "I 
thank your majesty. There is a faithful re- 
tainer of our house, Jasper Truestaff is his 
name, with whom and with the noble Lord 
Hugh, Earl of Beldevote, I will at once set out 
upon my quest. Fare thee well, dear and 
gracious queen ! Lady Malora, 1 take my leave 
of thee. Am I successful thou wilt no longer 
wear the diadem of Dorramanca.” 

" ’Tis a fool’s errand and one that likes thee 
well. Lady Leila,” said Lady Malora, with a 


‘THE ROMANY DUCHESS’’ 


207 


scornful toss of her head as she turned on her 
heel, glaring vengefully at space. With this 
the first act ended and the curtain fell amid 
thundering plaudits from the audience. Tliey 
forced the three ladies before the curtain, hand 
in hand, to acknowledge the applause. 

Act second, discovered by the rising curtain, 
represented the forest. A gypsy camp-fire, 
shown by faggots and a suspended kettle and 
by the frequent poking of invisible flames, 
burned — -according to any worth-while imagina- 
tion — ^in the middle of the stage. Around it 
sat Lara, the gypsy wife (Tilly) attired in 
gorgeous motley, with a Roman blanket’s gay 
stripes to top it all off as a shawl around her 
shoulders, and another Roman blanket thrown 
upon the ground, upon which she reclined. 
Tilly was unutterably happy; in all her life she 
had never before been so prominent or so 
magnificent. Opposite to her lay on his elbow 
Gid, as the gypsy husband, his race and moral 
standing plainly revealed by velveteen breeches, 
a red shirt, a sash and a black mustache. The 
mustache was so strongly inclined to leave him 
that he had to stroke it constantly and keep it in 
mind to an extent that interfered with his acting. 

On the third side of the fire sat Ailsa as the 
abducted duchess, known in the tribe as Joyous. 
Ailsa was tropically lovely in red and gold, with 
abundant gilt coins dangling from the crimson 
turban that sat on her flowing dark hair; more 
coins tinkled from her black velvet bolero 


208 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


jacket above her bright yellow skirt, red sash 
and white silk shirt. 

There was a new quality in the applause that 
greeted this pretty tableau; it was not only 
kindly, it was sincere. Ailsa sprang up, ran 
around the fire, threw her arms above her head 
with a pretty, free gesture and tripped to the 
front of the stage. 

“1 hear a bird!^^ she cried, bending forward 
to listen under her masses of dark hair. Mr. 
Brett^s flute trilled and piped, as birdlike as he 
could make it. 

‘^Sing, sweet bird, and I will dance to you,” 
cried the little gypsy. Forthwith the flute 
broke into a pretty little woodland air and Ailsa 
danced, danced like a gypsy, or a little dark elf, 
as if she were, indeed, alone in the forest. 

The applause that she won would take no 
denial of a repetition of the dance. After it was 
given, Ailsa sank down into her place beside 
the piled up faggots, breathless and glowing, to 
the delicious music of applause as hearty as the 
first round. But now it died away as Mona, or 
Lady Leila appeared in the background, a cloak 
over her shoulders, accompanied by the Earl of 
Beldevote, in private life Dinsmore Brett, in 
the most impressive of pale blue slashed doublets 
and garnet cloak, with a plumed cap that could 
have belonged to no one lower than a noble 
earl. As the Lady Leila and the earl peered 
through the trees, in truthful language through a 
fern and a rubber plant, disposed apart at a 
space adapted to peering, there was espied be- 


^THE ROMANY DUCHESS’’ 


209 


hind them the sober face of Jasper Truestaff, 
or Jimmy, clad in plain brown, to announce his 
sobriety and reliability among these court folk. 

^^Hist!” observed the earl. Whereupon the 
gypsy wife, Lara, sprang to her feet, and, care- 
fully looking in the wrong direction said: 

^‘Tony, I feel the presence of an enemy!” 

^^He’d be a bold man who dared approach our 
camp; I’d drink his blood!” exclaimed Tony, 
also rising and behaving and speaking in a way 
that could not by any stretch be called hos- 
pitable. 

Drink, then,” said the earl, stepping forth 
lightly, with a gesture of airy contempt, as he 
took his stand in the middle of the stage, hand 
on hip, the other holding back his cloak, with 
the double intention of being ready for the 
gypsy’s attack and better displaying his beauti- 
ful costume. 

^'Hah! art thou my enemy?” demanded the 
gypsy. 

^^As it likes you,” laughed the earl. am 
the Earl of Beldevote, the friend of all honest 
men, and, mark me, my man, that suits you not, 
if appearances speak truth!” 

'^Have at you!” cried the gypsy, raising his 
cudgel. 

‘^With all my heart!” cried the noble lord, 
drawing a sword that seemed slightly unfamiliar 
to his hands. 

^'Oh, oh!” shrieked Joyous, the gypsy girl, 
pulling off her bolero in her emotion and cover- 
ing her face with her hands in terror. 


210 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


''My sister, oh, my little sister!^^ screamed 
the Lady Leila, rushing forth from the shadow 
of the forest trees — ^in pots — as Joyous’ bare 
arms flashed aloft. 

The Lady Leila seized the slight figure of the 
gypsy girl, with less surprise and enthusiasm 
than might have been expected, since she could 
not possibly have known her search for her sister 
was to end here. Joyous fought her off with 
fine dramatic effect, crying : 

"Unhand me, lady! Who are you? What 
mean you by calling the poor gypsy Joyous your 
sister? I see plainly that you are noble, while 
I, who have no sister in the first place, am but a 
wandering gypsy.” 

" On your shoulder, child, you bear the proof,” 
returned Lady Leila, trying to master her 
emotion. "You are the rightful Duchess of 
Dorramanca, Graciella, my little half sister. 
Your father, the Duke, caused you to be tattooed 
on your shoulder with a lily. I, who had set out 
to find you after twenty years of absence, saw 
and recognized the mark when you raised your 
arms. Graciella, my sister, my lost darling, 
embrace me!” 

Joyous needed no further argument. With a 
melodramatic shriek that made the Lady Leila’s 
slight perturbation seem calmer than ever, she 
threw herself headlong at her sister and fell, 
half fainting, on her shoulder, while the Earl 
of Beldevote and the gypsy Tony, postponed 
their quarrel to watch this reunion. 

Lara began to shriek wildly. "I am dis- 


‘THE ROMANY DUCHESS” 


211 


covered ! My sin has found me out! I thought 
after so many years that I was safe!” she cried. 
‘T stole the little Duchess Graciella on her third 
birthday, but I have kept her safe and loved her 
as my own. And now, when I thought all 
danger past, I am undone!” Whereupon she 
began to shriek with manifest enjoyment of her 
own shrillness. 

“Say let up, Till-Pill: tone ’em down,” 
murmured the earl of Beldevote, sotto-voce. 

Then aloud, he said: “Calm yourself, woman. 
We will take you to our noble queen where 
justice shall be done you. If you can prove that 
any other motive but crime inspired the theft, 
in consideration of the care we can see you have 
given this lovely lady, the rightful Duchess 
Graciella, whom you call Joyous, mayhap you 
will be forgiven. Now will we away.” 

“Not much will we!” declared Tony. “If 
you want Joyous you must fight for her 5 you’ll 
not take her else.” 

“Say you so?” cried Jasper Truestaff, sud- 
denly springing out from the tree where he had 
been hiding and hurling himself at . Tony. 
“Leave the fight to me, good my lord,” he said 
to the earl. “Do you protect the women and 
hold fast to the Lady Graciella.” Whereupon 
began between the faithful retainer of the House 
of Dorramanca and the gypsy a fight of the most 
furious sort, witnessed by the frightened ladies 
and the gypsy Lara, who screamed like a hawk 
and encouraged her husband, while Lady Leila 
and Lady Graciella, or Joyous, clung each to 


212 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


an arm of the earl, who placed himself with 
drawn sword, in advance of them. 

The gypsy Tony was a head taller and con- 
siderably larger than Jasper Truestaff, yet from 
the first it was plain that the little man ^s strength 
was the greater ^Hhrice is he armed that hath 
his quarrel just.’’ There never was a moment 
when the result of this combat, furious though 
it was, could have been questioned. And when 
at last Tony fell, and, with a thrust, carefully 
and deliberately aimed at a spot in his side, 
just below where Tony’s left hand lay, Jasper 
shed his blood in a red stream over the forest 
sod, the audience felt that it was no more than 
they expected, nor less than he deserved. 

The applause was extravagant, but it had to 
cease when Lara threw herself upon her slain 
husband’s corpse, and waited for silence in 
which to declare that she would perish with 
him, and thereupon died in the most sudden 
manner, with entire abandon to the act and a 
fearful stiffening of her four out-stretched and 
lengthy limbs. 

‘^They are punished,” said the earl gravely, 
doffing his plumed hat and gazing solemnly 
upon the pair, as Jasper, no less solemnly, wiped 
the dagger he had fought with and put it up. 

^^Come, Lady Leila. Lady Graciella, your 
gypsy protectors are no more. Your old life 
as the gypsy maiden Joyous ends as you enter 
upon your new life as the Duchess of Dor- 
ramanca. It remains now but to see you 
righted. I doubt not that our glorious Queen 


‘‘THE ROAAANY DUCHESS’’ 


213 


Madrella will restore to you your estates and 
title, deposing the false woman who now enjoys 
them. Come with us; we will take you in 
safety to the court. For me I ask no better 
than to live and die your devoted slave.” 

The Lady Graciella gave him her hand with a 
smile that was wonderfully radiant, considering 
the series of shocks that she must have just 
received. 

This act ended with the four rescuers and 
rescued starting upon their return to the court of 
Queen MadreUa, leaving the gypsy thieves dead 
beside their fire. The curtain was no sooner 
fallen that it was up again, for the audience 
clapped and stamped and whistled in an ec- 
stacy of applause. It was so great that the 
actors felt their first misgiving. Could it be 
partly mitth that they detected in this uproar 
of clapping hands and moving feet? 

The third act — ^for at the last moment the 
play was made over into three acts after all — was 
the court scene again, with Queen Madrella on 
her throne and the usurping Duchess of Dor- 
ramanca standing beside it. Enter the Lady 
Leila leading the Lady Graciella, no longer in 
her gypsy costume, which was almost a pity, 
for no queen often has a chance to see anything 
so pretty. She was now attired in sweeping 
robes of gold with jewels everywhere, ending in a 
blazing coronet of gems upon her dark hair. 
The Earl of Beldevote followed them, and after 
him came Jasper Truestaff, modestly ready to 
receive reward for his share of the rescue, if any 


214 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


were to be awarded him. It happens some- 
times on the actual stage that the last act of a 
drama suffers from the previous act being of the 
nature of an anti-climax. This was true of 
The Romany Duchess. In the rescue of the 
second act the climax was reached. But the 
actors in this drama put their best efforts into 
carrying off the final act with a rush, and suc- 
ceeded in making the queen ^s welcome of the 
newly found Duchess Graciella, her deposing 
the interloping duchess, the wicked Lady Malora 
spirited and dramatic. 

‘‘As to thee, Jasper Truestaff,’^ said the 
queen, standing on the steps of her throne after 
she had pronounced upon Lady Malora the 
sentence of banishment from court, and after full 
restoration had been made of her estates and 
title to the true Duchess Graciella, ^^as to thee, 
Jasper Truestaff, come hither.” 

Jasper, with his round solemn face, ap- 
proached the throne and, at a signal from the 
queen, knelt at its foot. 

^'I will make thee my knight, for thou hast 
proved thyself true and leal and worthy of 
knighthood,” said the queen. No longer shalt 
thou be a retainer, even of the noble family thou 
servest. I will confer upon thee an estate and 
I will create thee knight. Rise, Sir Jasper of 
Joyous Castle, baronet. Thy estate shall be 
called Joyous in remembrance of the gypsy girl 
whom thou hast helped to rescue, now in her 
proper person, the Duchess of Dorramanca.” 


^THE ROMANY DUCHESS’’ 


215 


So saying the gracious queen tapped Jasper 
Truestaff upon the shoulder and he arose Sir 
Jasper of Joyous Castle, to the admiration of all 
beholders. 

Then the noble Earl of Bel devote stepped 
forth and gracefully dropped upon one knee 
before the lovely little newly-restored duchess. 

^^Lady Graciella, when I saw thee beside the 
camp-fire in the forest, I loved thee,” he said, 
with fine directness. shall always love thee. 
Wilt thou marry me?” 

The lady gave him her hand. too loved 
thee, brave and noble earl, when first my eyes 
met thine,” she said. ^^Yes, 1 will marry thee 
and be thy happy wife as well as the Romany 
Duchess.” Saying which the duchess and the 
earl, as well as the other four actors in this scene, 
turned to the audience with a bow and the play 
was over, the curtain descending. 

Tumultuous applause greeted this affecting, 
if somewhat abrupt end. The curtain was 
rung up again and the entire company called 
forth. Then each actor in the cast was called 
for separately and again the entire company 
together. It was not strange that the intoxica- 
tion of that glorious hour went to the youthful 
heads of these author-actors. 

It was just after the plaudits had been 
silenced, their echoes still in her ears, that Ailsa, 
preparing to come out among the audience with 
her fellow actors, heard her sister-in-law’s voice 
replying to someone. 

^‘Yes, indeed, Ailsa is clever,” she was saying. 


216 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


^^The childreD all helped a little in building the 
play, but Ailsa was the moving spirit; Ailsa 
always is the moving spirit. Yes, I really think 
they did remarkably well; 1 enjoyed it, though 
1 knew it by heart. But waso^t it funny ! They 
are such children still, though they are in 
their Teens! And they take it all so seriously, 
even clever little Ailsa! They do not realize 
how much amusement is mixed with the ap- 
plause. Dear little souls! Yes, I am proud of 
them. I am delighted that you are so kind as 
to say all you do of the dear, funny little drama.^^ 

Ailsa could not hear the other part of this 
conversation, but its nature was evident. 

A swift, sore wrath boiled up in her, unreason- 
ably, the result of the reaction from the excite- 
ment of that vociferous applause. So they were 
all laughing at her, at them all who had acted 
in The Romany Duchess, at the play itself! 
It was to them but a childT frolic, the make- 
believe of little children, and they had been ap- 
plauding, not admiringly, but with kindly, 
grown-up toleration, that held in it something 
not far from ridicule! 

A ilsa had a hot temper. 1 1 w as rarely aroused ; 
none of the Bretts had seen it that winter, or 
had seen but a flash of it. Occasionally Ailsa 
flew into a passion that mastered her, a tropical, 
burning rage that wiped out reason. It came 
upon her now, and, of all persons in the world, 
she was enraged with Molly-Mary, kind, sweet, 
lovable and loving Molly-Mary! 

It was precisely because she had been adoring 


^THE ROMANY DUCHESS’’ 


217 


her all along that Ailsa was furious that she 
should laugh at her — ^Molly-Mary, upon whose 
sympathy she counted! Besides which the girl 
was so excited and over- wrought that she was 
like a little package of explosives. All things 
together made her the victim of one of her 
sudden, swift, overpowering fits of temper. She 
turned like a flash and started back, pale and 
trembling, and ran away. She met no one, and 
in the crowd out beyond, where the audience 
had sat, she was not missed until people asked 
for her to pay her the lion^s share of praise for 
the spirit of her acting. If the foolish little girl 
could have known it, her adult critics were 
sincerely and warmly praising her. But she 
could not be found and no one could say what 
had become of her. 

Nan hurried off to look for her. The last 
place she thought of looking was in Ailsa’s own 
room, for they had intended all along to keep the 
young people in the audience for an impromptu 
dance after the play, and Nan did not imagine 
that Ailsa would withdraw. Most of all of 
them, Ailsa loved dancing. 

But Nan found Ailsa’s door shut and fast 
locked, and Ailsa’s voice, queer and husky, 
called to her: ''Go away. Nan: I’m tired. 
No- I’m not going down again. Please go 
away.” Outside the door Nan, instead of going 
away, pleaded for admittance and for Ailsa to 
join their friends downstairs. "What will they 
think?” she repeated over and over. At last 
Ailsa yielded to the force of public opinion and 


218 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


went dowD, her state of mind not improved by 
being obliged to yield. 

There was an uproarious frolic going on, Nan 
threw herself into it with rare high spirits. Ailsa 
danced and tried to smile, but when her evil 
spirit was upon her it held her captive; she could 
not smile successfully, nor, successfully, pretend 
to eojoy herself. 

^^Poor little mercury! She has worked so hard 
and done so well, so brilliantly well, that now 
she’s dropped all the way down below zero, 
from the height of excited joy! You’ll feel 
happy enough to-morrow, after you’ve slept, 
Ailie darling, and when I tell you how pleased 
people were with you children and your work, 
and especially with that lovely gypsy dance,” 
said Molly-Mary, unsuspecting, her loving smile 
and her honest eyes beaming on Ailsa. 

Ailsa turned away with her own eyes dropped 
lest Molly-Mary see the anger that she knew 
burned in them. As it was, the expression of the 
girl’s clouded face startled her sister-in-law, but 
she comforted herself by recalling how tired 
Ailsa must be; she had worked hard for and in 
the play, had thought of it and of nothing else 
for weeks past and she was such an excitable 
little piece of enthusiasms that this was but a 
natural nervous reaction. Still Mrs. Brett had 
never seen Ailsa look like that. She found her- 
self going back to it and hoping that the night’s 
sleep in her sunny golden room would banish 
the black shadow that rested on the pretty 
mobile face. 


CHAPTER XIII 

AILSA JUDGES FOR HERSELF 

The uext morning there was, for there could 
be, but one topic of conversation at the break- 
fast table. The Romany Duchess,” its authors 
and actors were discussed from every point of 
view, proudly, for the young Bretts felt that it 
was a success, and the elder Bretts fully con- 
curred in this opinion, albeit they could see the 
funny side of the dramatic event as the younger 
ones could not be expected to. Amid the 
chatter Ailsa sat silent, her eyes downcast, her 
interest, apparently concentrated on nothing 
more dramatic than an orange, cereal and an 
egg. It was so utterly beyond experience to 
find Ailsa the only one who had nothing to say 
that, after sundry telegrams from her children's 
eyes, Mrs. Brett said: 

^^What has come over our moving spirit? 
You carried off the laurels last night, Ailie; 
were they hops, after all? I never knew you 
silent. Sleepy? You feel weU, don't you, 
dearie?” 

Ailsa raised her eyes and looked at her sister- 
in-law for the first time. Mrs. Brett was 
startled by the gloom in the usually flashing, 
lauding dark eyes. If it had not been Ailsa, 
she told herself, she would have thought them 
the eyes of someone who disliked her. The 


220 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


look that she had caught the night before on the 
pretty, dark face recurred to her. Perhaps she 
did not know Ailsa on all sides yet; she was not 
like transparent, simple Nan: there were com- 
plexities in this clever girl, and, it might be, 
twists of temper that her sister-in-law did not 
know. She felt her heart sink, for she did not 
want to believe that there were winding chan- 
nels below the surface of the young girFs mind. 

^^Aren^t you well, Ailie dear? Tired?^’ she 
repeated. 

^^No, sister Mary,’’ said Ailsa gravely, and 
the new title moved Mrs. Brett to amusement 
that, unfortunately, leaped into her eyes for 
Ailsa to see before it could be crushed. 

‘^1 am not at all tired,” Ailsa continued, her 
color rising as she caught the gleam in Mrs. 
Brett’s merry blue eyes on hearing the title 
which Ailsa had meant should be dignified and 
impressive. ^^But I do not care to discuss the 
play, Mary, if you please.” 

Certainly not, my dear, if you would rather 
not. But we are all feeling this morning that 
Shakespeare was quite right to declare ‘ the play’s 
the thing.’ And you were such a large part of 
it that it isn’t easy to leave you oui; of the talk,” 
returned Mrs. Brett quietly. 

Nan’s eyes were growing bigger as she 
watched Ailsa, and clouding as they dilated, 
while a soft flush, a flag of distress, mounted in 
her face. 

Ailsa, what’s the matter?” she cried. 

Are you trying to crush the mother with your 


AILSA JUDGES FOR HERSELF 221 


‘sister Mar^ ^ stuff?^^ demanded Dins, unwisely. 

“Why should I want to crush my sister-in- 
law, and why should I not call her by her own 
name, instead of a silly nickname?’^ asked Ailsa, 
with overwhelming dignity. 

“Oh, come off!^' cried Dins, with boyish ir- 
reverence and frankness. “You don^t suppose 
we can^t see you have a grouch, do you? l^d 
like to know what under the canopy should 
grouch you, this morning, of all days! Every- 
body simply falling all over themselves to throw 
bouquets at you, and you turning lemon drop!^' 

“ If father hadn’t left early he’d have got Ailsa 
to tell,” observed Tilly, with still less judgment. 

“My brother would not have made me tell 
you anything I preferred to keep to myseh,” 
said Ailsa with spirit. “ But I suppose he would 
have remembered I was his guest and let me 
alone if I wished it.” 

“Quite true, dear Ailie,” said Mrs. Brett 
gently, with a warning glance at her brood. 
The young Bretts were the more incensed at 
this new attitude on Ailsa’s part that it was so 
wholly unlike her and that it had come to light 
on this morning when they were all over- 
flowing with their triumphs, above all that she 
showed her irritation directly to their mother. 

“We will not bother Ailsa, children. I am 
sorry that she does not feel well ; I am sure she 
is not well and it is not strange. She worked 
so hard and was so excited — ^we all were, but 
not as much so as the heroine of the play and the 
chieif author. By and by, dearie, come and rest 


222 THE LITTLE AUNT 

in your own Molly-Mary^s room and tell her all 
about it/' 

Mrs. Brett smiled her warm smile at the pout- 
ing girl, but her eyes were grave. She did not 
understand this sort of anger and she felt sure 
that there was more to it than she knew. If 
only Ailsa would flare up and speak out, as all 
her own young Bretts did, and have it over 
with! She would have understood and pre- 
ferred even a bit of impertinence better than 
this smouldering wrath. 

There is nothing that I have to tell you 
about, Mary," said Ailsa, speaking coldly, but 
trembling, for she loved this dear woman with 
all her heart and she began to feel that it was 
hard to wound her. Yet because she loved her, 
Ailsa found it hard also to forgive what she 
considered Molly-Mary's ridicule of the play. 

have a note here," Ailsa went on, turning 
to Nan and trying to smile, though Nan's blank 
and grieved dismay was not easier to meet. 
“Did you and Dins get one? A note of invita- 
tion — from the Browers?" Ailsa hesitated, in 
spite of herself, over this announcement. When 
she came to utter it aloud the name of Browers 
supplemented ill her unkind manner to her 
sister-in-law. 

“I didn't get any note," said Nan. 

“Nor I," added Dins. “1 wonder why we 
didn't! Invitation, did you say? To what?'^ 

“To the Browers' this evening. The note is 
from Billie Brower, in the name of all four of 
them. She asks me t3 a frolic at their house 


AILSA JUDGES FOR HERSELF 223 


to-night, and I^m to stay all night, because 
they’re too far off for nae to get back; it will be 
late when it’s all over, Billie says. She doesn’t 
tell me what sort of a frolic it is, but she says 
she won’t take no for an answer; none of them 
will. They were here for the play last night 

and they ” Ailsa checked herself; her tone 

was getting enthusiastic. “They didn’t think 
the play was bad,” she added, getting her voice 
back to its new level indifference of tone. 

“Well, I call that going some!” cried Dins. 
“Asking you and simply dropping out Nan and 
myself! I’d expect them to ask me, anyhow; 
the Browers are always fine to boys. And 1 
could have brought you home,” added Dins 
naively. 

“I suppose they know that your mother does 
not care about them and that you would not 
have been allowed to go,” said Ailsa. 

“My mother lets us do everything we ought 
to do!” cried Gussie, unexpectedly, catching the 
condemnatory note in Ailsa’s voice. 

The child’s remark proved to Mrs. Brett that 
she was right in thinking that Ailsa’s was sug- 
gesting an unfavorable criticism of her attitude 
toward her children’s acquaintance with these 
undesirable Brower girls. 

“Ailsa knows that, little Gussie. She has 
often said that I let the children turn our tiny 
world upside down for a good time,” she said, 
quietly. “ Ailie, dear girl, you are not implying 
that the Brower girls expected you to accept 
this invitation, which excludes the rest of the 


224 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


family, and that you mean to accept it?’’ 

they hadn’t thought I’d go 1 don’t see 
why they asked me,” said Ailsa. ^^^You — ^nor 
Gus either — ^wouldn’t want to forbid me doing 
what I wanted to do, like your own children — ^as 
you would Nan, I mean?” 

Mrs. Brett hesitated and Ailsa, seeing her 
hesitation, frowned and tossed her head ever so 
slightly, but Mrs. Brett saw it and realized that 
here was a case where tact must be used. What- 
ever had come over loving, frank Ailsa, she was 
plainly in no mood to receive commands. Mrs. 
Brett wondered how far her brother and sister’s 
authority extended, or would be. admitted in 
regard to Ailsa’s conduct. 

would be sorry enough to have you go, 
Ailsa dear,” she said gently. “As to forbidding, 
we never have to go so far, do we? As long as 
we sisters, the big one and the little one, are so 
fond of each other we are not likely to think of 
prohibitions and commands. But if I supposed 
that you thought of accepting this invitation, 
Ailsa, I should beg you to forego this pleasure; 
it would not prove a pleasure to you, I am only 
too sure of that.” 

“1 do want to go,” said Ailsa, discovering on 
the instant this fact which had not been clear 
to her before. The truth was she was too out of 
humor to fail to be annoyed by Molly-Mary’s 
unvarying gentleness, her old affectionate way, 
which ignored Ailsa’s altered manner. 

“I am quite, quite sure you do not, little 
sister,” said Mrs. Brett. “You would not have 


AILSA JUDGES FOR HERSELF 225 


the good time that you have with Mona and 
Kit and your contemporaneous niece, Nannie, 
and our own liv'ely boyish boys. And I, per- 
sonally, ask you not to cultivate these ac- 
quaintances. You are such a dear child, Ailie, 
that you have no idea how unpleasant you would 
find girls who like to imitate fast ways. I don’t 
want you to have an idea of it, so 1 ask you not 
to go. I don’t say that the Brower girls realize 
the harm they do, first to themselves and then 
to others, but their type is not suitable as com- 
panions for our dear gypsy duchess.” 

It was an unfortunate ending of an appeal 
that had half shaken Ailsa’s determination to go 
to the Browers’ party. It revived her memory 
of her grievance; she hardened her heart; her 
face reflected that hardening. Mrs. Brett, 
puzzled and sorry, saw that she had lost tJie 
ground she had gained. 

Please do not talk about it,” Ailsa said. I 
don’t see why you are prejudiced against the 
Brower girls, though they do dress queer and 
may be a little too lively. They can’t harm me : 
I like quiet clothes and — well, I suppose I may 
as well say nice ways. But if our ways are 
rather nicer, that doesn’t mean those girls 
aren’t as good as we are. I think I’ll go, Mary. 
If Dins was asked he’d go — or want to.” 

^^Dins would not go; I hope he would not 
want to go. Your brother and I have authority 
over him. Down in the bottom of his heart 
Dins knows, though he may not say so, that the 
Brower girls are not good friends for you — or 


226 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


for him — ^to make. Dear little Ailie, I will not 
try to claim authority over you, but I ask you 
not to go, for my sake, and I warn you that if 
you do go you will wish that you had heeded 
your frumpy old Molly-Mary, who loves you 
and wants you to have all the fun you can and 
not pay a heavy price for it.’’ 

Mrs. Brett rose from the table as she spoke, 
pushing back her plate; the meal had long been 
over. She left the room, wise enough not to add 
a word to her appeal. 

Nan ran around and caught Ailsa in her arms. 
'T wouldn’t go for the world after that, would 
you, Ailie? How dear mumsy is!” she cried. 

Ailsa looked ready to cry. ^^She makes a 
fuss about nothing. Nan,” she said. And I’ve 
just found out — never mind! What a nuisance 
when people think everything in bad taste is 
wrong! The Browers aren’t in good taste, but 
they’re nice. Maybe I wouldn’t have gone 
once, but now I shall — ^wouldn’t you. Dins?” 

^^No,” said Dins, with a shake of his head, 
wouldn’t, not in your place. I’d feel I had to 
consider my sister-in-law’s opinions while I 
visited her and I think I’d want to please her, 
if she was the kind of all around horn-of-plenty- 
for-good-times mumsy is. Take my advice, 
Ailsa, and cut it out. What’s come over you, 
anyway? I think mums is mistaken about the 
good time; I’m sure you’d have a dandy time, 
but if I were in your shoes I wouldn’t have it.” 

Nevertheless, Ailsa persisted in her determina- 
tion, though no one but herself knew how many 


AILSA JUDGES FOR HERSELF 227 


times she was on the point of giving it up and 
how she wavered mentally when she seemed most 
determined. If only the girl would have opened 
her heart to Nan, or, better, have told Nan’s 
mother that she was hurt and angry and why, 
her grievance would have been laughed and ex- 
plained away, and her love for her ^^Molly- 
Mary” would have come triumphantly out of 
its temporary eclipse, her old delight in pleasing 
her sister been restored. But Ailsa kept her 
own counsel. Nan acted grieved and reproachful, 
Dins disgusted, the younger children were openly 
condemnatory that Ailsa meant to do what 
their mother had asked her not to do. So Ailsa’s 
offended dignity was driven to take refuge in 
obstinacy, or else admit itself wrong, and Ailsa 
persisted in going to the Browers’ that evening, 
though the sky fell. 

Ailsa expected opposition from her brother on 
his return that night, and prepared herself to 
meet it. But, as Ailsa suspected, his wife 
wrought the magic of making her husband fol- 
low her example and let the girl alone, with only 
a request that she change her mind at the last 
hour. 

^^I’d like very much to have you tell me that 
you wouldn’t go to the Browers’ this evening, 
Ailsa,” Mr. Brett said. “Your sister tells me 
that you are asked though our girl and boy are 
not. 1 should not allow them to go. I’m not 
going to attempt to forbid you, Ailsa, though 
you are my little sister and under my care, but 
I ask you not to go. The Brower girls manage 


228 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


to make themselves a good deal talked about m 
Renwyck and they give good reason for unkindly 
interpretation of their ways. You are not old 
enough, and are too nice a child to understand 
why all this makes Renwyck parents of the 
better sort object to those girls as companions 
for their own youngsters, but you ought to see 
that there is nothing more unfortunate for a 
girl than to make people doubt that she is what 
we all mean by ^ a nice girl.^ So please, my dear, 
telephone these girls that you are not coming, 
and stay at home with us, who love you.’' 

have said that I’d go, Gus,” said Ailsa. 

1 think I’d better go. I guess the Browers are 
nicer than they look.” Ailsa stopped with a 
tiny laugh, for she had not expected to say this. 

You are good not to order me to stay at home: 
thank you, Gus. I wouldn’t like to have' you 
order me, not to-day. But I believe I’ll go. 
I’m to stay all night, that is unless you know 
some way for me to get back.” 

^^I don’t,” said Mr. Brett decidedly. ‘^I ob- 
ject strongly to the idea of my little sister spend- 
ing the night there, but I really can’t go after 
you, nor send Dins, of course. If you go against 
our wishes, Ailsa, you’ll have to look after your- 
self. I’m sorry, but if you see why your sister 
and I dislike your going the night won’t be 
wasted — ^and I fancy you will see. It’s a great 
thing, Ailsa, to learn by experience; it’s a 
greater to be big enough not to require ex- 
perience, but to trust yourself to loving au- 
thority.” 


AILSA JUDGES FOR HERSELF 229 


Ailsa dressed herself in her beautiful gown 
with the autumnal colors in its embroidered 
trimmings. Mrs. Brett came to help her, but 
Ailsa turned away. 

^‘What^s wrong with my Ailie?^^ whispered 
that dear woman, arranging something in the 
back, though Ailsa silently rejected her aid, and 
leaning over the girbs shoulder to whisper in 
her ear. 

“Oh dear!” sighed Ailsa, by way of reply, and 
her sister felt her tremble with unshed tears. 

“Ailie, darling, why won’t you tell me? 
What can have happened? Don’t you know 
that it worries me to see you so changed?” per- 
sisted the coaxing whisper. 

“Maybe I’ll tell you some time, though I 
don’t see what good it would do to tell you, it 
isn’t as though it were something I had been 
told. Please don’t talk to me now, Mary. I’m 
worried too, and I don’t want to cry before I go 
to a party,” Ailsa said chokingly. 

^^Cry instead, cry hard, and don’t go to this 
party! It would be better for you, and I know 
you’d have a better time in the end. I can’t 
bear to let you go, you small thing! Why won’t 
you stay at home and believe we wouldn’t ask 
it if we didn’t know best?” pleaded Mrs. Brett. 

Ailsa shook her head and pulled her long coat 
over her brilliant gown, gathered up her slipper 
bag and the other bag that held her toilet for 
the night, and turned toward the door. When 
Molly-Mary bent toward her for a good night 
kiss Alisa pretended not to see, busying herself 


230 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


with her glove. Mrs. Brett drew back with a 
real stab of paio, though, if she could have seen 
within the stormy, wounded little heart she 
would have seen it suddenly melting with a long- 
ing on Ailsa^s part to put her arms around Molly- 
Mary and stay at home to cry that heart out on 
her shoulder. Her grievance suddenly looked 
childish to Ailsa, though it had been real enough 
all day. The golden little room that Molly- 
Mary had prepared for her coming seemed full 
of protest against Ailsa for her resentment to- 
ward this devoted, motherly friend. Ailsa felt 
that now, when she was all ready, it was too 
late to turn back. She ran off and jumped into 
the waiting cab which she had asked Jimmy to 
call, trying to make herself believe that she was 
already beginning to enjoy this evening of 
gaiety and independence. 

The Brower girls greeted her with four sepa- 
rate and individual bits of slang. The foible 
of the two older girls was to look as young as 
their sisters, thougli Billie, or Cora, really was 
younger than Nan Brett. Bessie and Irma were 
dressed in scant short skirts and wore their hair 
girlishly looped across their heads from ear to 
ear, avoiding the appearance of even the brief 
twenty years that they had lived. Heine and 
Billie were dressed in a sort of Turkish costume; 
the short tunic and full trousers gathered in at 
the ankle made Ailsa stare. 

^^Hello, you Great and Only!’^ cried Heine, 
shaking Ailsa by way of caress. “You were 
inamense all right last night in that gypsy dance! 


AILSA JUDGES FOR HERSELF 231 


That^s why we asked you here. We dido^t 
want to ask your cousins — 0, jiminy — Your 
niece and nephew! Isn’t that the best ever! 
I’ll never get over you’re being an aunt to that 
bunch! Well, we didn’t want to ask them be- 
cause we mean to have a racket to-night. So 
it never struck us to ask you either, till we saw 
that dance. Then we said: We need her in our 
business! Say, it’s dandy of you to come, any- 
how, not resent our leaving out the rest ! Ailsa’s 
heart sank. So even the Browers expected her 
to be loyal to her family, and though they 
praised her for her deficiency, the praise was 
to her a rebuke. 

^^We’re going to have a Turkish thing; we 
don’t know precisely how we’ll do it, but I 
guess a heap of cushions, some cigarettes and 
the music will give us a tip when we get to it. 
It’s really an excuse for Billie and my costume. 
Isn’t this nifty?” Reine executed a few dance 
steps and a kick to illustrate the possibilities oi 
the Turkish costume. 

Ailsa slipped out of her coat with only a 
murmured response. She felt like a very small 
cat in the strangest of garrets. This was what 
her brother and sister had meant! She saw it 
and, what is more, she felt it to her finger tips 
at once. She did not belong here, she was not 
at home with this sort of girl. Alone, without 
any of her own kin or friends in the Brower 
house, sensitive Ailsa instantly felt in a foreign 
land. It was a quiet, subdued Ailsa that fol- 
lowed Reine downstairs and was presented to 


232 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Mrs. Brower, not as to the hostess who must 
recognize and welcome each young guest, but 
in a casual way, as if Mrs. Brower happened 
to be there and so Reine introduced Ailsa to her. 

Mrs. Brower was intentionally younger look- 
ing than the mother of the young Bretts. She 
was highly colored, handsomer than her daugh- 
ters, but even less well-mannered. Her gown 
was over- trimmed, her chest glittered with 
chains, her eyes were hard and bright under 
brows that greater experience than Ailsa^s 
would have known were pencilled. She greeted 
Ailea with a breezy assumption of youthful 
equality and a laugh that jarred on the girPs 
ear. 

^^My girls tell me you are some dancer,’’ she 
said. ^^You must do your part later on.” 

The room filled with about twenty young 
people, none of whom Ailsa knew. She began 
to see, after a time, that some of them were well 
past twenty, nearly thirty. It was part of this 
house’s programme to make everybody >oung 
together; years were forbidden to do their 
work. 

The young men were older than the boys 
whom Ailsa knew, except a few, and these were 
older than the older ones in looks and manners. 
It seemed to be the rule that all grown women 
were to be young girls, but that all boys were to 
be men of the world. Ailsa felt timid and more 
little girlish than ever before in her winter in 
Renwyck. Her quick wit was dulled, her ready 
tongue hesitated, she shrank into herself and 


AILSA JUDGES FOR HERSELF 233 


began to wish with all her heart that she had 
not come, though she could not have clearly told 
why. 

There was music and dancing, a good deal of 
laughter, a rapid fire of slangy witticisms that 
did not seem to Ailsa funny, even when she 
understood it, and this was by no means al- 
ways. The boys treated the Browers and the 
other girls with familiarity, but it did not seem 
one bit like the happy, frank, yet respectful 
intimacy of the Brett set. Reine and Billie 
Brower posed on a pile of cushions; . that seemed 
to be the extent of the reason for their wearing 
a Turkish costume^ until cigarettes were passed 
and, to Ailsa^s horror, Reine and Billie lighted 
one with the air of accustomedness. The 
Turkish pose did not warrant this, shocked 
Ailsa thought, but looking around she dis- 
covered that nearly all the girls were puffing 
away on cigarettes. It was not wicked, but it 
was disgusting. Ailsa had a sudden wave of 
something like homesickness sweep over her. 
If only she had not come! If only she were at 
home in her pretty golden room, confessing to 
Molly-Mary how offended she had been and how 
foolish, for now she saw that Molly-Mary had 
only laughed at the play kindly, with plenty of 
pride in it all the while. If only this were all 
done and Molly-Mary had kissed her good night, 
forgiving her as that blessed woman would do, 
and she were dropping asleep with her stubborn 
head on her pillow, safe in that pretty room, in 


234 the little AUNT 

that kindly, happy, loving, well-bred, innocent 
home! 

- ^^YouVe got to give us that gypsy dance, 
Ailsa,’’ she heard Irma Brower saying. ^‘It’s 
the best ever. First you’ll do it solo, and then 
we’ll make Thad Byrnes do it with you. He 
can catch on to any dance this side Zululand 
the minute he sees it. We’ll get dancing good 
and lively after supper. Say, kid, what makes 
you so awfully quiet? You’re sort of kinder- 
gartenish, did you know it? Wake up. We 
thought you were full of sand. What’s wrong 
with you?” 

left something in the dressing room I 
want, Irma,” said Ailsa, with entire truth. 

She got up with a sense of suffocation. Dance 
for all these queer, unmannerly, cigarette smok- 
ing girls? For these ill-bred boys? Never ! She 
should not have come; Molly-Mary and her 
brother had been right, but now — ^well, she 
must not stay! 

I’m going up to get it. Don’t bother, Irma; 
I know the way. Just let me slip up alone.” 

‘^Go ahead, kiddie, but you’re slipping up all 
right, all right!” laughed Irma. ‘^I never 
thought you would be so pokey and — ^juvenile.” 

Ailsa went out of the room; no one followed 
her. There was a clock in the hall; she saw 
that it pointed to twenty minutes past eleven. 
Fearful to think of going out in the streets alone 
at that hour, but that was what she was going 
to do! Ailsa felt as though anything were 
better than staying here, where ways were free 


AILSA JUDGES FOR HERSELF 235 


and easy, and manners beyond her ken. 

She saw a telephone standing on the table in 
the upper hall, and hailed it as a deliverer. 
She rang up the stable where her brother al- 
ways got his carriages. She rang and rang, but 
it was long before she got an answer; the livery 
man was asleep, but the bell rang also into his 
house, as well as into the stable, and at last he 
answered sleepily. 

^^This is Miss Ailsa Brett, Mr. Augustus 
Brett^s sister. I am at the Browers^; you 
know the house? Then please send a carriage 
to take me home at once. I was to have been 
gone all night, but I want to go home. Please 
send at once, will you?” 

Ailsa had spoken softly and the noise down- 
stairs had drowned her voice to those below. 
She put up the receiver with a sigh of intense 
gratitude and ran to the dressing room, had off 
her slippers and on her street shoes in no time, 
pulled on her coat, tied up her hair in her scarf, 
seized her bags and started for the stairs. She 
could not face the people who would be sure to 
see her, nor explain her flight. She looked 
around for other avenue of escape and dis- 
covered the back stairs. Down these she fled, 
frightening the maids below within an inch of 
their lives, went out the back door, bidding one 
of the maids tell the Brower girls that Miss 
Brett had gone home. 

^^But donT you tell them for a long time, re- 
member!” warned Ailsa. The girl was a good 
Irish girl, with her racers quickness, as well as 


236 THE LITTLE AUNT 

an Irish womao^s standard of propriety of 
behavior. 

Go along wid you, alanna,^’ she said. “ Sure 
I’ll tell ’em after you’re far beyant here. It’s 
no place for a little lady, an’ a little girl like 
you, an’ it’s myself is not stayin’ here whin me 
month’s up. Fun an’ dancin’ an’ all frolic- 
someness is good, but not the wildness an’ bad 
manners these girls to be practishin’.” 

Fortified by this approval of her action and 
confirmation of her opinion, Ailsa ran around 
the house to wait for the carriage and good 
Norah followed her, to wait with her and see 
her safely bestowed. 

It was some time before the cab arrived, but 
it came at last and thankfully Ailsa sank into a 
corner of its seat and was borne homeward 
through the deserted streets of Renwyck. 

The Brett house was silent and dark when she 
drove up. She began to despair of arousing it 
as she rang and rang, and finally knocked on 
the door. 

A light appeared, glimmering uncertainly 
through the figures of the opaque glass in the 
door, then developing into a small light, ad- 
vancing toward the stairs above. Ailsa saw 
Mrs. Brett coming down, a kimono over her 
shoulders, a small electric bull’s eye searchlight 
in her hand. 

Who’s there?” she demanded through the 
door, then, as Ailsa called her name, she cried: 

Ailsa!” in a startled voice and hastily unbarred 
the bolts. 


AILSA JUDGES FOR HERSELF 237 


“Ailsa, child, \vhat is it?’^ she demanded as 
Ailsa stumbled in and burst out crying on the 
motherly shoulder of her beloved Molly-Mary, 
as she had been longing to do all day. 

“It^s nothing, Molly-Mary,’^ Ailsa sobbed. 
'^I’m all right. I’m more right when 1 cry than 
when I didn’t. I’ve been horrid all day long. 
I was mad. I heard you say something about 
the play, as if it wasn’t much good, kind of 
kiddish. It made me mad: I honestly believe 
it sort of hurt me, too; I hope it did, for that’s 
better. Anyway, I couldn’t get over it. That’s 
why I went to-night! Molly-Mary, I couldn’t 
stand it. They’re grown up and I don’t like 
the way they did it. I don’t like any of their 
friends, and the girls smoked cigarettes, all of 
them, and Reine and Billie had on Turkish 
costume — ^they’re unpleasant! I felt uncom- 
fortable. I never want to go there again, nor 
see them. 1 just slipped out and telephoned for 
a carriage and came home. I was afraid, but 
I couldn’t stay there all night, and they were 
going to get me to do the gypsy dance. And a 
nice Irish girl said I was right to leave and she 
waited for the carriage with me — she was the 
truest lady in that house! Molly-Mary, you 
dear, darling sister, will you forgive me? In- 
deed and indeed I’m sorry and ashamed! I 
don’t see how I ever was so silly. If you did 
laugh at us; I guess we were funny, the play, too, 
and I might have known how lovely you laughed 
at us, for you’re always the dearest thing in the 
world, whatever you do!” 


238 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Ailsa had poured out this long confession, 
mingled with abundant tears and hysterical 
sobs. Mrs. Brett patted her back consolingly 
and kissed her, trying, as she said laughingly, 
^Ho find a dry place for it.^^ 

^^It’s all right, childie; don^t cry. Be sure 
I laughed at the play, if laugh I did — don’t 
remember — with amusement at whatever was 
funny in it and childish, but with a great deal of 
pride in my clever chickens. Why didn’t you 
tell me, Ailie? Always give people a chance to 
make good, when you’re offended with them. 
It’s all right, little Ailie! Come to bed. I’m 
glad you see why I don’t care about the Brower 
girls for your acquaintances. You can make 
amends by teaching Dins not to seek them. 
Come, I’m going to tuck you in your little bed 1” 
And in a short time Ailsa was wearily, but 
cozily dropping off to sleep, as she had been 
longing to do, in her own golden room, soothed 
and forgiven by Molly-Mary’s loving good night 
kiss. 


CHAPTER XIV 


A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 

Early the next morning Reine Brower called 
up the Brett house and asked for Ailsa. 

Hello there she cried cheerfully over the 
wire. '^Did you get home safe? If our girl 
hadn’t told us what had become of you we might 
have been scared. Do you mind telling what 
struck you? It certainly was a queer game you 
put up; seems to me I never heard of company 
sneaking a snook like that!” 

Ailsa could not help laughing. ^Ht was pretty 
rude,” she admitted into her receiver. was 
going to write you this morning. You see if I 
hadn’t stolen away you would have tried to 
keep me, there’d have been a lot of talk and 
bother, so I thought I’d better go last night, 
and ask you to excuse me to-day.” 

^^1 can see why you wanted to get out of be- 
ing teased to stay, if you had made up your 
mind to go, but what set you off? We ex- 
pected you to stay all night. You’ve got to 
own up it was awfully queer,” persisted Reine. 

'^ril own it,” said Ailsa promptly. ^^But 1 
had to come home. I— 1 wanted to come. 
Please pardon the rudeness. You didn’t need 
me and I — wanted to come home.” 

don’t think you’re a success at explain- 


240 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


ing!’’ Reine Brower^s voice sounded angry, yet 
she laughed. least you^re honest; you 

don’t say you were sick, or had broken your 
arm, or anything. You didn’t like our party, 
that’s the size of it. I’d be mad all through, if 
it wasn’t so funny — and I’m mad pretty deep 
as it is.” 

^^Try to forgive me and don’t ever ask me 
again, Reine,” said honest Ailsa. ^‘I’m sorry 
I went; I ought not to have gone anywhere 
that Nan and Dins weren’t asked. I’ll be going 
away this spring, I suppose, home again, so 
you may as well forget all about me. There’s 
no use in fibbing — and I would hate to do it 
anyway. You see, Reine, we don’t like the same 
sort of fun. I’m livelier than Nan, but — please 
forgive for accepting your invitation and then 
running off. It was wrong of me and I’m 
sorry.” 

‘‘You mean you’re sorry you came. Miss 
Ailsa ! So am I! But I’ll forgive you — I guess 
we girls smoked you out! Goodbye. You’re a 
cute kid; if only you weren’t such a little lady 
you’d be all right. I thought you would have 
more go in you! Go right on being a little blue 
ribbon girl and we girls will go on our way. 
Good bye, Ailsa Brett. No bones are broken. 
I’ll forgive you! So long!” 

Ailsa echoed the good bye and hung up the 
receiver. 

“That’s the end of my acquaintance with the 
Brower girls,” she said, turning away. Then 
she saw that only Dins was in the room and that 



“Ailsa, Child, What Is It?” 


The (Little Aunt) 


(Page 237) 


1 * 






-I 





• % 


Oli^ 









• 

^ A i* * 


iv^ 





«♦ 


' ', .••‘■**''' vl 

< 1 ?-^ - - 4 


i X 


\ • 




4 **^ . 

J'l ^ . 


'•\ 


j t 


V 




\ 


m- ■ 


%f 




t> 


.-f 



f 







• 7 4" 

4 



* 

« #- 

^ :i 

» ^ ^ 


• ? • ] ' . • 

* ! 3 , . 


•» ' 



VitS 



•*»•** •-4- * g 





f . 


% * 




;j{ 4 



A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 241 

he was hearing her end of the conversation \?^ith 
an amazed face. 

' Hello, Dins,’^ she said. ^‘Good morning. 
You didn’t know what an awful thing I did last 
night — not that I’m sorry! I am sorry that I 
went to the Browers’ at all, though. I’m prop- 
erly sorry that I trampled on your blessed 
mother’s advice and wishes, but I’m cured! 
Dins, let me tell you about that party!” 

Ailsa dropped into the nearest chair opposite 
to Dins’, and with her elbows on the table, her 
face in her hands, earnestly and effectively 
sketched the guests and manners which she had 
encountered the previous night. 

Dins listened with a puzzled frown. ^'I 
shouldn’t fancy that sort of ways,” he said as 
Ailsa ended. ^‘I can’t stand sporty girls, but 
they have always been so nice to me, Ailsa!’' 

Don’t you get to knowing them any better. 
Nephew Dins,” said Ailsa, laughing^ but in 
earnest. '^I can’t stand sporty girls, either. 
It will be a safe rule for you to try your ac- 
quaintances by Mollv-Mary and Nan. What 
Molly-Mary likes is all right, and she’s full of 
fun, too. And what you’d want Nan to do — I 
mean the people who do what you’d want Nan 
to do, are the right girls to know. You and I 
needed a lesson and I had it. Honestly, Dins, 
I’m ashamed to death to think I went there 
when your mother asked me not to ! Especially 
that I never really liked the Brower girl s’ ways — 
you don’t, either. As to being nice to you, 
they’d be certain to be nice to you boys. Take 


242 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


your old auntie’s advice, and don’t cultivate 
sporty girls! I wouldn’t have gone there if I 
hadn’t been offended with darling Molly-Maiy. 
Fancy a mosquito like me being offended with 
her!” 

thought you 'had a mad on her,’ as those 
East Side New York stories say. What was 
wrong?” asked Dins interestedly. 

''Idiocy!” replied Ailsa in one candid word. 
" I heard her laughing — just a little fun — -poking, 
it was — ^at our play, and I hadn’t sense enough 
to know she was proud and pleased all the 
while. So 1 flew up and was mad all through. 
I hope it was partly because 1 was excited and 
tired, but I know I’ll ne’er be such a dunce 
again ! I’m desperately sorry! Then, to prove 
the play wasn’t kiddish, and that I was able to 
be perfectly independent in my judgment, and 
choose my friends, as well as write and act, I 
went to the Browers’! Such a dunce!” Ailsa 
pul led her own hair penitentially. 

"What I like about you. Aunt Ailsa, is the 
wholesale way you sail into everything,” re- 
marked Dins. "When you were mad with 
mumsy, mad you were, and wouldn’t listen to 
her. Now you’re converted from the error of 
your ways, you lay yourself out flat! You’re 
the own daughter of that Mother Goose lady 
who 'lived in clover and when she died she died 
all over.’ ” 

"I think you take after me — or you ought to, 
as I’m your aunt, but I don’t see how you can 
since you’re older than I am. We ought to be 


A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 


243 


careful, Dinsmore, my dear, which way we face, 
since we always jump in over our heads, said 
Ailsa rising. “Just you make a point of know- 
ing nice girls, for one thing.” 

“I do,” said Dins. “Kit and Mona are nice 
girls.” 

“They certainly are; Mona especially is as 
sweet as she can be,” agreed Ailsa warmly. 

Nan, coming into the room at that moment, 
heard only this answer. She tried to smile 
happily in response to Ailsa's unusually warm 
morning greeting — ^Ailsa was in a mood of con- 
trition that made her realize how dear all this 
family was — ^but she succeeded only partly. 
Mona -and Ailsa had been growing more and 
rnore friendly through the days of play prepara- 
tions. Mona’s admiration for Ailsa was un- 
bounded and it did not require the sensitiveness 
of Nan’s love for Mona to see that Nan was no 
Jonger first in her dearest chum’s thoughts. Poor 
little Nan — ^for she was like “Little Nan,” 
though she was considerably taller than Ailsa — 
found this a two-fold hardship. It was hard 
to have her dearest intimate friend preferring 
another girl, hard that this girl should be Ailsa, 
who was as dear to Nan as Mona was, though in 
another way. Altogether it was a complicated 
bit of twisted triangle of girlish friendship, and 
the clearest thing about it to Nan was that it 
hurt in several ways. 

“Did Mona say anything to you about com- 
ing over this morning. Nan?” asked Ailsa. 

Nan shook her head. ^'Is she coming?” she 


244 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


inquired with an eflort that Ailsa noted. 

‘^Weren’t we to figure up our profits?” sug- 
gested Ailsa. 

Could we do that so soon?” asked Nan. 

Dins laughed. What^s the matter with you 
two?” he cried, unconscious that he was adding 
to the list of questions. All you do is ask each 
other questions and neither of you answers. Is 
it fashionable now to wear interrogation marks 
all over your conversation?” 

^‘No, that’s why I’ll answer yours, returned 
Ailsa quickly. I suppose you don’t know there 
were two in that remark of yours; it seems to be 
catching.” 

Set down one for Miss Ailsa Brett, my aunt,’^ 
ordered Dins to an imaginary scorer. 

Mona and Kit appeared around the corner at 
that instant and were not long in reaching the 
house. Mona burst into the room ahead of 
Kit and made a dive at Ailsa, too impetuous to 
take account of Nan. 

Ailsa, you dear! You clever dear!” she 
cried. ^^The way you acted that night! And 
that gypsy dance! I wanted dreadfully to see 
you yesterday, but you knew I had to go with 
mother to spend the day at my aunt’s. I’ve 
been thinking about you every minute.” 

“I wasn’t the only one; you all did as well as 
I did,” said Ailsa. ^^Did Ham tell you how 
much we had taken in?” Ham was the treas- 
urer. 

took in sixty-seven dollars and fifty 
cents!” cried Kit and Mona together triumph- 


A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 


245 


antly. anyone knows what the expenses 
were we^ll know how much we made,” added 
Mona. 

‘^So we shall, Mona, that is if anyone has 
gone as far as that in subtraction,” cried Ailsa. 
^^Dins, didn^t you have the accounts?” 

Dins pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, 
striped with dark creases from rubbing against 
the lining of the pocket. 

Got on tick at Hammatt’s one piece of green 
stuff for hangings — ^back of stage you know,” 
Dins interrupted his reading to explain. Fifty 
yards at four cents is two dollars. They let us 
have it at four because we took such a lot and 
because we were a Worthy Object. Then the 
canton flannel for the regal robes, that we got 
at six cents and we had twenty yards — ^that^s a 
dollar and twenty cents — ^that^s three twenty. 
There were a few other items, but weTe safe to 
count on having at least the sixty dollars to 
hand over; our expenses didnT pass the seven 
fifty, at the worst. I don’t think that’s half 
bad — ^for kids! For kids to raise for a kid, you 
know!” 

^^1 think it’s fine! I think it’s perfectly won- 
derful!” cried Mona, deeply impressed. 

‘^We certainly were successful.” 

^^Of course we have to remember that people 
were nice about it. They bought tickets be- 
cause they knew us and we were young, so they 
hked to encourage us, and then we were going 
to give the money to that baby,” said honest 


246 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


NaD, whose instinct for perfect truth and fair- 
ness was strong. 

Mona turned on her pettishly. ‘^Oh, good- 
ness, Nan Brett, what do you want to spoil 
things for? Everybody said the play was 
lovely and that they enjoyed it! you talk as if 
it was only to be kind to a lot of children people 
came. It was nice, everybody says so ! I don^t 
see why you want to make it nothing at all.’’ 

I didn’t,” began Nan chokingly, but stopped. 

Nan never wants the least thi ng seen crooked 
or said crooked,” interposed Ailsa, with a smile 
that was meant to be reassuring, but which had 
an opposite effect. It did not mend matters 
for Nan to have someone defend her to Mona, 
to whom she was supposed to need no defence. 
‘‘After all. Nan is right,” Ailsa went on. “It 
was a good play, considering, but you do 
have to consider! That’s what I wouldn’t 
do either, yesterday, Mona, so I was quite 
horrid.” She did not explain further, but 
Mona cried enthusiastically: 

“You never were horrid in all your life, Ailsa! 
I just know it. You’re such a dear! I can’t 
imagine how we got along in Renwyck before 
you- came, just by ourselves.” 

“Wouldn’t it be funny if boys plastered one 
another with taffy the way you girls do?” said 
Dins rising to leave the room with an amused 
and masculine superior smile. 

His mother met him in the doorway and 
turned him back, a hand on each shoulder. 

“Right about face, lad Dmsmore!” she com- 


A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 


247 


manded. have news for you. The Drama- 
tic Association is invited to a banquet — of a 
mild sort! — this evening at Brett Castle — with 
the queen!’' 

^^Oh, mumsy!" ^^Oh, Molly-Mary!" ^^Oh 
you lovely Mrs. Brett!” cried Nan and Ailsa 
and Mona and Kit, in chorus, effective though 
impromptu. 

'^It is even so,” nodded Mrs. Brett joy- 
ously. Amanda and I are going to make a 
treat that will be neither elaborate nor poor, 
we hope. Dins, you must tell the boys.” 

'^May I stay all night? You asked me to 
stay sometime soon and I haven’t stayed in 
ages,” begged Mona. ‘^Kit stayed last. May 
I?” 

^^Of course,” said Mrs. Brett heartily, while 
Nan brightened and cried: 

was thinking just the other day how long 
it had been since I had you over, Mona.” 

Mona looked embarrassed. ^^You wouldn’t 
care if 1 slept with Ailsa this time, would you. 
Nan? She said once I might try her lovely 
golden room and I thought I’d like to visit her 
this time. She won’t be here so dreadfully 
much longer, I’m afraid.” 

^^Why, of course,” murmured Nan, turning 
away with the light fading out of her pretty 
face. 

Her mother watched and listened to this small 
tragedy with great pity for her dear girl in her 
heart. She was not one of those who forget 
how keen is the pain of the first wounds to affec- 


248 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


tioi], nor how bitter is a disappointment in a 
friend to a girl of fifteen who has been worship- 
ping that friend. She had long known that 
Mona was not capable of the strong devotion 
which Nan felt for her; she saw that Ailsa^s 
unquestioned charms had fascinated and dazzled 
Mona and she could have cried to know that 
Nan felt wounded to the quick that Mona could 
prefer another to her, though that other were 
Ailsa, whom Nan loved dearly. 

She wondered how Ailsa would act; it was not 
in the least Ailsa’s fault, yet she might be able 
to mend matters, if she were loyal and wise. 

Ailsa^s bright eyes glanced at Nan and then 
quickly away. “I wouldn^t shut my yellow 
room door on you, Mona, if you want to come 
in, but you’ll get precious little good of the 
yellowness, or the prettiness at night, when 
you’re asleep. Still, you have to try it once — 
like chicken pox! 1 can see you pounding your- 
self for wasting a visit on Nannie-nice,” she said. 
And she won an approving look from her Molly- 
Mary that warmed her heart. Ailsa was still 
sore and ashamed that she had faiied in love and 
duty toward Moll>-Mary. 

^^I’d like to have you come to my banquet in 
the costumes of the play,” said Mrs. Brett, who 
perfectly understood the pleasure of “dressing 
up.” 

“How fine!” cried Kit. “I was wishing we’d 
be asked to give the play over again; 1 want to 
wear my costume.” 

“What time, Mrs. Brett?” asked Mona, 


A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 


249 


talking short hand/’ as the girls said she did. 

About three, to be here while the sun is 
still high. We’re to have a group of the play 
taken out of doors. I think a background of 
real trees will serve instead of our woods scene, 
and a snap shot may turn out better than a 
time exposure for such a large group,” said Mrs. 
Brett. 

The two girls and two boys came promptly, 
their costumes bundled up, or in bags, for, 
though Kit would have rather enjoyed wearing 
hers through the streets in broad daylight, 
regal robes of canton flannel are not adapted for 
walking out. 

Mrs. Brett was the photographer. She took 
several snap shots of the characters in the play, 
posed for various scenes in it, and then a group 
of all the characters together. Finally the 
actors begged for a picture of Ailsa alone in one 
of the poses of her gypsy dance and her sister- 
in-law took that, after which she retired to re- 
move her film and get it ready for developing; 
none of the actors wanted to wait an unnecessary 
moment to see the result. 

When “the banquet” was served Mrs. Brett 
played for a supper march and the costumed 
young folk were ushered into a dining room 
turned into a sylvan grove, on a small scale, 
by green vines and branches. Amanda pre- 
sided, big and beaming beneath a bright colored 
turban which Mrs. Brett had persuaded her to 
wear, under the plea of its being a costume 
supper; in reality because it made the jetty 


250 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


blackness of Amaoda’s highly polished complex- 
ion most effective. Peggy, in a swamping bow 
of ribbon, sat whimpering beside the fragrantly 
loaded table, ready to sit up and beg as soon as 
anyone came to receive her petition. Middy, 
growing up to his name more and more as he 
grew older and the Midas-touch of gold in his 
coat deepened in shade, was ready to waive the 
formality of a petition and to jump on the table 
to help himself. Amanda kept a watchful eye 
upon him and a restraining hand ready to catch 
him by the yellow bow which he wore, a bow 
nearly as large as Peggy^s green one. 

Mr. Brett, as an active member of the Dramat- 
ic Association, though not an actor, appeared 
at the banquet a trifle late. Ham read his re- 
port of receipts and Mr. Brett, in a brief speech 
applauded to the echo at its close, announced 
that he had paid the bill at Hammatt^s for 
materials used in the play, so that the Associa- 
tion had sixty-five dollars to turn in toward the 
maintenance of the baby for whom the play was 
given. 

‘^How long will sixty five dollars keep a baby 
out of an asylum?” asked Tilly. 

^^They donT drink anything but milk; you 
could tell exactly, if you could find out how 
many quarts of milk it took a day to feed ’em,” 
said practical Jimmy. 

‘^It’s a let for us to have kept her out a 
month!” cried Nan, naturally inclined to see 
things at their best. 

‘‘I predict that this particular baby in ques- 


A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 


251 


tioD will never go to an asylum/’ said Mr. Brett, 
nodding so meaningly that everyone saw this 
was no mere empty prophecy. 

^^Oh, say, Daddy Brett, are you onto any- 
thing?” cried Dins, surmising the truth. 

Mr. Brett only smiled. ^^When do you in- 
tend taking the money to Miss Broad?” he 
asked. 

“To-morrow?” suggested Ailsa interroga- 
tively. 

“Wait till afternoon, then, and perhaps you 
can take her more than the rescue fund from 
the play,” said Mr. Brett with a smile that was 
an assurance. 

“As sure as guns you’ve had luck about that 
splendid old trump’s money! ” cried Dins. 

“I’ll let you know to-morrow morning, and if 
I have ‘had luck’ you shall take her the news 
with your fund from the play,” said Mr. Brett. 

Mrs. Brett fairly beamed from her end of the 
table. “Isn’t it delightful? I hope you are all 
proud of your father, lively Bretts!” she said, 
glowing under her halo of fluffy bright hair, like 
a sort of domesticated sun. 

“We are, we are!” cried the young Bretts, 
in a chorus increased by the unrelated members 
of the Dramatic Association, all of whom loved 
the elder Bretts. 

“What are we to do to finish up the eve- 
ning?” asked Dins, as they followed Mrs. Brett 
from the “banquet” of which so little was left 
that Amanda chuckled as she gathered up the 
fragments. 


252 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


'^Maybe you Chilians had a play suppah, but 
you wasn’t playin’ much when you eatin’ it; 
looks mighty like good, se’ yous wohk you done 
’scomplish,” she said, shaking her sides in su- 
preme satisfaction; Amanda, like most human 
beings, enjoyed appreciation. 

^^Let’s act impromptu,” cried Ailsa, replying 
to Dins’ question. “We’re costumed. Indeed 
we weren’t playing, Amanda! I was so much in 
earnest that 1 feel weighted down this minute — 
with seriousness, or with supper.” 

Ailsa’s suggestion was so good that it hardly 
was adopted — ^it went into effect by its own ac- 
ceptability. There was a riotous evening, with 
the small room off the library turned into a 
stage and the most preposterous nonsense acted 
by the Dramatic Association, until they were 
all breathless from laughing and declaiming. 
Whereupon they ended up in a dance, for which 
they were never too breathless, nor Mrs. Brett 
too tired to play. 

“You may as well stay all night, too. Kit,” 
said Nan, which sounded like an ungracious 
invitation, but Kit did not misunderstand it. 

“ Can’t do it,” she said. “ Mona has nothing 
to do in the morning; I’m going off with mother 
to spend the day with my stiffest relatives. I 
dread it, but it has to be, and we start early; 
I’ve got to be at home to leave home.” 

“Good night,” said Nan, with a careless nod 
and a smile, apparently not seeing that Mona 
expected to kiss her good night. Nan was not 
angry, but she was hurt and sore; she did not 


A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 


253 


want to cry then, so she dared not risk a good 
night kiss to her beloved Mona, who was pre- 
ferring another. 

Nan swiftly undressed and crept into bed, 
pulling the sheet up around her head and lying 
with her knees drawn up and her hands over 
her bowed face, almost a hard knot of misery, 
for now she was having the ^'good cry that she 
had deferred all the evening. The postpone- 
ment had made her eyes bright with its restraint. 

The door softly opened. Nan did not hear 
it, but suddenly she was aware of a caress on 
her hair that could have been given by only one 
hand in the world. 

She turned, sobbing pitifully, to see her mother 
sitting on the side of the bed; she gathered poor 
little Nan into her arms without a word, save 
the dear old mother-soothing that means noth- 
ing and everything: ^^There, there, dear; there, 
my darling, donT, donT! There, there, childie, 
don't cry!'’ 

Nan nestled close, feeling instantly comforted, 
but still she sobbed on, saying: 

^^Oh, mumsy, Mona loves Ailsa best! She 
does, she does! And I'm not mean, honestly; 
1 love Ailsa too much. But Mona, Mona! We 
promised forever, you know. 

^^Far too long, Nannie," said Mrs. Brett, 
thinking it wiser to laugh a little, gently, at 
Nan's tragedy. ^^But I think Mona will swing 
back to you; Ailsa bewitches her, you know." 

She did not say what she thought, that Ailsa 
would not adore Mona as Nan had done, and 


254 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


that Mona would come back to faithful, gentle 
Nan^s admiration for her. Mona had to be 
admired; she was not like Nan, content to wor- 
ship uncritically where she had given her love. 
Mona found receiving, if not more blessed than 
giving, at least pleasanter. 

Ailsa bewitches me, too; she does everybody, 
but it^s more than that — she’s such a dear,” 
said Nan. ^^She didn’t try to make Mona like 
her so much; she couldn’t help stealing her. 
I’m ashamed, mumsy, but it does hurt. Not 
so bad now you’re here ! 1 think I’d better keep 
you for my best and only friend! When you 
come and sit on my bed nights it seems as though 
nothing on earth mattered a speck!” 

^^Not even my being here?” laughed Mrs. 
Brett, wiping Nan’s eyes and swollen face, then 
kissing her hot lids. have our visit every 

night, daughterkins; it seems to me, too, that 
nothing can be unbearable while we are such 
real, intimate friends!” 

In the mean time the two girls in the pretty 
golden room had not gone to bed. Instead 
Ailsa had rolled herself up in a gay kimono, with 
a cape over her knees and sat, like one of those 
ball-shaped figures, surmounted with a head, 
arms and torso which will not tip over, her 
knees drawn up into her clasped arms around 
them. 

Mona, reclining gracefully on the bed in 
arrested progress toward readiness for it, watch- 
ed Adsa with admiration that was sentimental. 

“I never saw anything so pretty and be- 


A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 


255 


witchiog as you are, Ailsa Brett! With that 
gay thing on and your dark hair hanging, you 
look simply wonderful,” she cried. 

You see 1 haven’t my light hair with me to 
hand down,” said Ailsa. “See here, Mona, I’m 
not going to have it ! I let you come in with me 
to-night to tell you so. I’m not going to have 
it, so you might just as well stop it from this 
time world without end.” 

“Aren’t going to have what?” demanded 
Mona, jerked upright by her surprise. 

“You shifting your youthful affections to me,” 
said Ailsa firmly. “It’s all foolishoess. It’s 
only because I’m new, though it isn’t half as 
good a reason for it as knowing me always, as 
you have Nan, would be. You’re Nan’s best, 
most intimate friend and you’ve got to stay it, 
as far as I’m concerned. Nan is a darling; she’s 
worth a dozen of me, and she loves you hard and 
fast. Nan isn’t one of the kind that chop and 
change! You’ve got to stick to her, as far as 
I’m concerned.” 

“I never heard such talk, Ailsa!” protested 
Mona, not knowing whether to laugh, to cry, or 
to be angry. “I’d like to know how you could 
make me like her better than you.” 

“I can make you like me less than her,” 
retorted Ailsa, with spirit and cleverness. 

“1 want to be your best friend and I want 
you to be my best friend,” cried M ona. 

Nan is your best friend; she likes you better 
than I ever should,” said Ailsa, shaking her 
brown hair all around her face with her emphasis. 


256 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


^^But I love you more than 1 do her/’ said 
Mona. '^Do you suppose you can help chang- 
ing! I was such a tot when Nan and 1 became 
friends! 1 love her, of course; she is a dear, but 
you — well, I never saw a girl like you!” 

That’s no reason for liking me better than 
the others who aren’t like me,” Ailsa responded. 
‘^See here, Mona, I don’t want to be your best 
friend — 1 must speak right out. 1 never should 
admire you the way Nan does. You’re nice, 
I like you, Mona; I don’t mean I don’t, and 
I’ll be a friend of yours, of course, but not your 
most intimate friend. I like Kit fully as well 
as I do you, and a girl at home better than either 
of you. Anyway, I suppose I shall be going 
home soon — it’s almost April — and then where 
would you be? I’ve been wondering how I 
could make you understand, and 1 thought 
when you asked to sleep with me, I’d just plain 
tell you — it’s the best way ! I’ve been worrying 
about dear Nannie; I know she’s been miserable 
because you were veering around. You show 
her it wasn’t any more than a little whiff of 
wind and you’re back again. You’d be lonely 
enough if you took me for your best friend; 
you’d miss Nan’s admiration. Nan thinks 
you’re the loveliest thing in the world, while I 
think you’re just one of the nice, pleasant girls 
in it. You wouldn’t like a best friend who 
couldn’t get up any more steam than that, now 
would you? No one would; least of all Miss 
Mona Chapman. Please don’t think I’m horrid, 
Mona; I’m not. Some day, when it won’t do 


A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 


257 


auy harm, 111 tell you that I like you ever so 
much, honestly. But you^d better keep true 
to Nan; youll be glad in the end and 111 like 
you better if you do.^' 

Mona had listened to this long speech with 
consternation in her face. She looked hurt, but 
even Ailsa/s youthful inexperience saw that it 
was chiefly in her vanity. 

don’t believe, 1 do not believe anyone ever 
talked like this to another girl!” cried Mona, 
when Ailsa ceased speaking and eyed her anx- 
iously to see the effect of her words. 

^^Nan wouldn’t, saidAilsa. ^^Nan wouldn’t 
risk hurting anyone for a bushel basketful of 
perfectly good planets — like Venus! She’s a 
great deal sweeter and dearer than 1 ever should 
be. You don’t know a good friend when you 
see one. You’re lucky to have such a best 
friend as Nan Brett. It isn’t because she’s 
related to me, almost my sister; it’s for her own 
sake I want her to be my best friend, if you’d 
like to know the truth. The idea of anyone 
being fickle to lovely Nannie on my account! 
Just drop the idea of being my most intimate 
friend and go show Nan you see straight at 
last.” 

It’s too dark now to see, straight or crooked,” 
murmured Mona, confused and yielding to 
Ailsa’s influence without further protest. There 
was something in little Ailsa that no one re- 
sisted. It was her peculiar and great gift to 
make almost everyone she came in contact with 


258 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


see things as she saw them and follow her sug- 
gestions. 

Ailsa laughed, much relieved. don’t sup- 
pose I meant this very minute,” she said. But 
it’s a good idea. Go in and tell Nan you didn’t 
want to stay with me, after all. That you want 
to spend the night with her, j ust as you always 
did. That’s true, you know! You don’t want 
to stay in here now, but by and by you’ll get all 
over being half provoked with me and see that 
it was all right for me to free my mind, and that 
you really do love Nan a million times more 
than me! Trot along, Mona; that was a bright 
idea of yours!” 

Ailsa disentangled herself from her clasped 
hands around her knees and the folds of her 
kimono, by the simple expedient of rolling over 
on the floor and getting up straightened out. 
She opened the door for Mona and patted her 
on the back as Mona meekly went through it. 
Mona turned back and kissed Ailsa good night, 
puzzled, unable to define her own feelings, but 
sure somewhere below her irritation and dis- 
appointment that Ailsa was all right.” 

She knocked softly on Nan’s door. Nan was 
not asleep, though her mother had been gone 
some time. 

“Come in,” called Nan, expecting to see one 
of the children. She arose on her elbow and 
stared at Mona’s unexpected apparition, but 
did not speak. 

“Let me sleep with you. Nan. I always 
slept with you. I’d rather than to sleep with 


A TRIANGULAR TANGLE 259 

Ailsa DOW,” said MoDa, following Ailsa^s in- 
struction. 

Nan sprang up and threw her arms around 
Mona. ^^You dear, dear!” she cried. ^‘It 
seemed awful to have you preferring another 
room, even Ailsa^s. You see you're my best 
friend and I want you, aren't you, Mona?” 

^^Yes, I'm your best friend,” said Mona, 
creeping into the warmth of Nan's bed and 
long-tried Jove. They fell asleep close locked, 
and Nan's heart was profoundly happy. ^ 

She would never know Ailsa's part in this 
recovery, for Mona would not tell of her defec- 
tion and still less would Ailsa mention what 
she called, to herself : Mona's nonsense.” 


Chapter XV 

THE PLANK 

The next morning Ailsa came running down 
stairs a little late to find Nan and Mona had 
preceded her. Mona was inclined to show by 
her manner that she was noton the same terms 
of the evening before with Ailsa. She was 
ill-at-ease and, pardonably, not well pleased 
to remember that Ailsa had snuffed out her 
flaming admiration, or rather had refused to 
feed it with the oil of dominant devotion. So 
she answered Ailsa coldly and stood aloof. 
But Ailsa would have none of this. 

She caught Mona around the wa'st and 
waltzed her around and out of the room, where 
she could rapidly give her a sort of postscript 
to her marching orders. 

'^See here, Mona,^' she said low and fast into 
Monads ear. “You stop acting grumpy to me! 
You don’t really feel so, or you won’t after a 
while, but if you act so for ever so short a time 
Nan will see it and think something’s wrong 
between us and that’s why you went off into 
her room last night. Then what would be the 
use of anything? What we’re trying to do is 
to make Nannie happy; now don’t you spoil it, 
please, by making her imagine you fell out with 
me. Besides we didn’t fall out, did we, Mona? 
We’re good and friendly, aren’t we?” Ailsa 


THE PLANK 


261 


smiled her owd bright, coaxing smile as she 
thrust forward her elfin face, pretty and alluring. 

Mona still found her irresistible. She smiled 
back at her. 

^‘One of us is good and the other is friendly,’’ 
she said, and then the two girls went back to the 
dining room, this time in the steps of the barn 
dance, to vary the programme and also to ad- 
vance more directly. 

^^Are we to take the proceeds of the play to 
Miss Broad to-day, father?” asked Dins at 
breakfast. 

‘^Do you mean, have you any tidings to 
send to Miss Broad with the money? ” suggested 
Mr. Brett. ‘^Yes, there is good news for dear 
Miss Amabel. The gentleman who appro- 
priated her funds is supposed by the general 
community to deserve that title. I went to see 
him and convinced him that it would prejudice 
people against him seriously if it got noised 
abroad that he had betrayed the trust of a lone 
woman and had muddled up her affairs so that 
money which ought to be in her credit column 
of the ledger stood under his name in his books, 
with a minus only to her account. He saw the 
point and was eager to make good, if I’d keep 
the secret. There really would not be anything 
to gain in having it known ; he may as well have 
a chance to retrieve his honor, and it is also the 
only way to get back Miss Amabel’s losses. So 
he had until this morning to raise the money 
and make restitution to dear Miss Amabel . He 
called me up a while ago and told me he had 


262 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


everything ready to make a settlement to me 
this forenoon. You may tell Miss Broad, when 
you go to take the dramatic proceeds to her, 
that she is going to be in precisely the same 
relation to the income tax as she was before — 
he will pay back all he had — -well, we’d say 
stolen if it were a nice, dainty word! As it is 
we’ll call it: Diverted from its proper channel.” 

Tilly amazed the family. In the midst of 
the shout that this story, told by Mr. Brett 
with a happy twinkle in his eye, called forth 
around the table, Tilly jumped up and began to 
swing her arms madly, high above her head, then 
around, like a sort of crazy mowing. 

‘‘I’m so glad, I am so glad!” she chanted 
wildly. “I couldn’t stand it to have Miss 
Broad poor and bearing it so saintly! I couldn’t 
STAND it! I was going to get mumsy to let me 
work for her, housework now, and earn money 
when I got bigger. Now I won’t have to, but 
I’d have done it! I couldn’t stand it to have 
Miss Broad poor and have to live in that tene- 
ment house, with those children. If she just 
wanted to, the way it was, I wouldn’t mind, but 
to have to!” 

“Why, Tilly, you dear little windmill, I had 
no idea you loved Miss Broad so well!” cried 
Mrs. Brett, miuch pleased by this proof of 
Tilly’s devotion, so well bestowed. 

“Well, I do,” declared Tilly. “I like people 
good and quiet, like — ^like lamps!” Tilly hes- 
itated for a simile, then ended triumphantly. 


THE PLANK 263 

go arouDd with the plank right away, 
shall we, girls?^’ asked Dins. 

Plank? What does that mean?’' inquired 
Mona. 

‘^The proceeds, the plank for that baby to 
crawl out of the asylum on," explained Dins. 

have an idea that baby will not need a 
plank now ■ I fancy if Miss Broad has her money 
restored the baby will fairly fly away from the 
asylum on the wings of Miss Amabel’s rescuing 
love,’’ said Mrs. Brett. 

^^Oh, I’m sure of it!’’ cried Nan. *'Miss 
Broad said she meant to have taken that baby. 
Just fancy how happy she will be! Hurry up, 
everybody, with breakfast. Let me telephone 
Kit and Ham and Gid to be ready; we’ve got 
to go in a body. Maybe, now Miss Broad will 
take the baby, she would rather we gave the 
money to someone else who needs it; the play 
money, I mean.’’ 

‘^As long as it stays a plank and someone 
crawls up out of something bad on it, we don’t 
care who crawls nor what the badness is, do we?’’ 
remarked Dins to no one in particular. 

Breakfast was hurried; enthusiasm swept 
each one through it. Even Gussie choked in 
the general hurry, trying to get through before 
Jimmy, who never seemed to hurry, but whose 
steadiness gave him the speed of the famous 
tortoise. 

Peggy begged industriously for biscuit crusts, 
broken small and well-buttered, losing her 
balance often, for she was over-weighted for 


264 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


sitting erect on her hind legs. ^ Then, feeling 
the preparations for an expedition in the air, 
she fell to begging as hard to be taken wherever 
the family might be going. 

Let’s make a regular Noah’s Ark plank of 
it!” cried Ailsa, with one of her inspirations. 

Let’s take Gussie and Peggy ” 

^^Yes, oh, yes!” shrieked Gussie. ^‘And 
Middy!” 

‘^Midas is over young and foolish,” said Nan. 
^‘His hind legs twinkle too much.” 

Let’s see: let me see ’em twinkle, Nan,” 
implored Gussie, leaning as far over the side 
of her chair as she could. 

Middy was careering around the dining room 
with a piece of paper he had found. At frequent 
intervals he stood for an instant on his fore paws 
and made a queer, convulsive motion with his 
too-long hind legs, which had the effect of a sort 
of yellow flash in the air. Nan called this 
‘twinkling his hind legs.” Middy was growing 
big, but sweeter 5 a very affectionate, yet playful 
little person, and his broad yellow bands and 
circles were most effective on his ashen yellow 
sides. 

‘^Let me take Middy in my doll carriage and 
let his twinkling legs hang over,” proposed 
Gussie with a chuckle, straightening herself. 

We’ll leave Amanda and Middy to wlcome 
us, but we’ll take Peggy in her coatie-coat,” 
Tilly settled it. 

Peggy seemed to understand; she ‘talked 
with her lip caught up and her eyes rolling side- 


THE PLANK 


265 


ways at her audience. At times she broke into 
a sharp bark as her emotions mastered her at 
the thought that there still might be a misunder- 
standing about her going. After breakfast the 
delegation set forth. Nan had shortened her 
own meal to call up the other members of the 
Dramatic Association and insure their joining 
the Brett delegation. Tilly made Peggy ready 
in her dark broadcloth overcoat, bound with tan 
braid, which blended remarkably into the com- 
plexion of its wearer; it had a tan leather strap 
and a buckle to hold it in place around the little 
body that honesty would pronounce a trifle too 
rotund. 

Mrs. Brett regretfully stayed at home. ^^I’d 
love to go with you, children, but it’s all your 
mission and I’m not going to spoil it by taking 
part of the attention. Besides, I’ve too much 
to do to go,” she declared, waving her hands in 
farewell. 

‘‘You’re always too busy, so it wouldn’t 
matter if you went, because you are always 
too busy,” said Nan with much reason. 

TiUy snatched Peggy off her feet and held her 
up. The little dog waved both her paws, “just 
the way mumsy was doing,” Jimmy said. Peggy 
waved and waved in jerks, making a tremendous 
effort to conquer her shortness of breath and 
limb. 

“If mumsy won’t go, we might as well start,” 
said Tilly, in a fever to be off. 

Spring was getting foretold by the air; its 
coming was clearly perceptible to-day. 


266 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


The young people remarked upon it jubilantly , 
till Nan sobered them by saying: 

don’t want spring to come this year* I 
wish we could turn back to October, Ailsa 
will go away this spring.” 

“ Oh, jiminy junkets, head her off!” cried Gidd, 
so fervently that the rest laughed, though their 
faces were still clouded by the nearing prospect 
of losing the Brett’s little aunt. 

^Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof,’ ” 
quoted Ailsa. don’t like the idea of leaving 
Renwyck, but I’m not going just yet. I don’t 
believe in getting dismal till you must! To 
think that last spring I hardly knew there was a 
Renwyck and didn’t know or think any more 
about my little Brett neices and nephews than 
about extinct animals in the Natural History 
museum!” 

“Not a nice comparison, Auntie dear. My 
maiden aunt Ailsa is not as respectful to me as 
she should be to a nephew older than herself,” 
observed Dins. 

They found Miss Broad in her schoolroom, 
that queer, delightful schoolroom, in which no 
pupil could afford tuition, and no hard and fast 
rules obtained. The chubby children incredibly 
scoured and shining, clustered around her knees 
and she was teaching them with scant reference 
to the book that lay open in the best position 
for the majority to see its pages; not nearly all 
of the children could refer to it, but that did not 
matter. 

Miss Broad looked older, tired, patient, yet 


THE PLANK 


267 


peaceful. The fine, plain, beautiful face was 
thinner, though it had always been thin, and 
that the dark, glossy hair was streaked with 
gray was more apparent, perhaps because Miss 
Broad was dressed in the same shade of iron 
gray that her hair was assuming and the hair 
was brushed so smooth. 

‘‘How delightful to see you, dear young folk!^^ 
cried Miss Broad, starting up with unfeigned 
pleasure as she espied the Dramatic Association 
through the door that the warmth of the day had 
made her set ajar. “Come in, quickly, and 
wake us all up, little and big! Dear mites, these 
are the girls and boys who gave us our Christ- 
mas frolic. Tell them you are glad they came 
to see you.^^ 

“Glad you came to see us,’’ chorused the 
shrill, sweet baby voices, the greeting varied 
by one voice, higher than the others, shouting: 
“Glad we came to see you.” 

“It doesn’t matter,” laughed Miss Broad. 
“What are we to do for you to-day, to enter- 
tain you? Or are you going to entertain us, as 
you can so well?” 

“We came,” began Nan, and stopped, glanc- 
ing at the others. 

“Go on, boys. Dins you be spokesman,” 
said Ailsa. 

“We had a play. Miss Broad,” said Dins, 
scowling with absent-minded sincerity upon 
Ailsa, for he did not care to make a speech. 
“We got up a play for the orphan baby you told 
us about, that would go to an asylum. We 


268 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


called the play: ‘The Romany Duchess/ and 
we sold tickets for it. It was rather a success.^ 

“It was decidedly a success, Dinsmore: I 
was there,’’ said Miss Broad. 

“That’s right!” cried Ham. “I saw you. 
They gave you a chair too low and straight, then 
they changed it.” 

“ ‘They made her a grave too cold and damp 
for a heart so young and so true, ’ ” murmured 
Dins. The Brett house was full of old song 
books and Dins browsed on themf very fre- 
quently and irresistibly repeated themselves 
at unexpected moments, as now. 

“Oh, Dins!” protested Nan, really shocked. 
“Do go on!” 

“We netted sixty dollars, that is we did be- 
cause father paid a dry goods bill for us. Dins 
resumed. “We have come to hand it over to 
you. We thought, or we hoped, it would keep a 
baby out of an asylum for quite a while. We 
calculated it would buy about seven hundred 
quarts of milk. 

“Oh, Dins!” sighed Nan again. “When you 
know we only calculated that for fun!” 

“ It surely will keep the baby out of an asylum 
for a while, and we’ll hope there may be further 
good fortune in store for her,” said Miss Broad, 
taking the money with a happy smile. Dins 
had been to the bank and had got twelve crisp 
five dollar biUs— “to make it at once as bulky 
as was decent, and yet alluring,” he had ex- 
plained. 

“But that isn’t all,” began Dins over again. 


THE PLANK 


269 


TheD he balked. ‘^Vl] be switched if Til tell 
the rest of it! You girls go on with th^ story/' 
he said. 

can't/' Nan and Mona and Kit said to- 
gether. “It must be Ailsa ; she can talk." 

“Am I so formidable?" laughed Miss Broad. 

“No, but it ought to be told you in just the 
right way, because we shall probably never have 
another chance to tell anything so good," ex- 
claimed Ailsa. “Dear Miss Broad, my brother 
and sister, as well as all of us younger ones, felt 
dreadfully to know your money had been — ^lost? 
Gus calls it something else! But we couldn't do 
anything but feel sorry, except Gusj he could 
and he did. Oh, Miss Broad, he's got it all 
back for you; Gus, my brother, has! The man 
has paid it all back. Gus said, we must tell 
you that you were — oh, how did he say that? 
Well, that the income tax affected you exactly 
as it did before! He has got it all back, every 
cent. Oh, dear, dear Miss Broad, we're all 
nearly crazy, we're so glad! We wouldn't be so 
glad, maybe, if you hadn't been so heavenly 
about it! We just couldn't stand it to see you 
so patient and contented when you had been 
cheated!" 

Miss Broad had turned so pale that some of 
the older and more observing of her little pupils 
began to whimper, taking fright. Miss Broad 
had not moved or spoken, but this puppyish 
subdued whimpering aroused her. She bent 
over to comfort the children — and the girls 
noticed that it needed no more than the re- 


270 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


assuring touch of her hand to still the frightened 
babies — and at the same time she turned her 
brimming eyes and smiling face upon her visitors.. 

^^Dear hearts, do you think anything that I 
could say would be adequate? Will you tell 
your father, Nan, tell Ailsa’s brother, to try to 
interpret for me? 1 can’t, 1 never can say what 
I feel! Oh, dear children, I am so glad, so glad 
and thankful!” 

Saying which Miss Amabel Broad broke into 
soft sobWng till all the little pupils fell to crying 
with her, so she had to stop and make them all 
smile again. 

Don’t you know what this means?” asked 
Miss Broad then. 

The Dramatic Association felt sure that it did, 
but it waited for Miss Broad to explain. 

^^It means that the little baby shall never go 
to an asylumi it means that I shall take her for 
my very own,” cried Miss Broad ecstatically. 

Oh, my dears, that was the hardest part of my 
finances going wrong when they did: I wanted 
so much, for the sake of the baby and myself, to 
take that little bereft life and make it full and 
happy!” 

^‘Well, she’s a lucky kid!” said Ham, with so 
much fervor that it sounded respectful. 

Shall we all go to see her?” cried Miss Broad, 
starting up with girlishness that no one of her 
visitors had suspected hidden within her. 
feel as though I must hurry to her and tell her 
our good fortune, our God-given chance, though 


THE PLANK 271 

she is such a wee mite. She’s a dear little wee 
mite, girls; you’ll love her. Shall we go?” 

^‘We’d like to, Miss Broad,” came the reply 
in a sincere chorus, with eager emphasis on the 
part of Tilly and Gussie. The boys pardonably 
doubted their enjoyment of a visit upon a young 
baby, but they kept their misgivings to them- 
selves. 

‘^Mayn’t I show the children Peggy first?” 
asked Tilly. She’s been wiggling something 
awful under my coat. I’d like to take her out 
and show her, if you don’t mind.” 

So wiggling Peggy, who had been hidden all 
this time under Tilly’s coat, in the darkest rear 
of the room, was brought forth and hailed 
rapturously by the kindergarten. When she 
was put through her accomplishments and sat 
up in the middle of the floor waving her fore 
paws and begging for ^^cakie,” it quite over- 
came the school. 

‘‘Oh, let’s us keep her forever’n ever jes’ 
a-sittin’ up an’ pwayin’!” implored one of the 
twins, voicing the sentiments of tlie whole. 

“Peggy must ^ home, babies, and so may 
you now. We’ll be dismissed and have a vaca- 
tion . Come to-moT’row bright and early. Miss 
Broad has a kind of birthdaj' to-day, so there’ll 
be no more work. Gather up your toys and 
books and paper, and don’t forget your beautiful 
new pencils! Then march and march and march 
away home!’^ cried Miss Broad. Her happy 
voice was so infectious that Peggy’s most 
covetous admirer broke into smiles and all the 


272 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


round little, plump little bodies began to roll 
out of their chairs and get into line. 

Once more, as at Christmas, Ailsa played a 
gay little march and the children went away to 
its tune. They had been taught the prettiest 
little farewell, an old fashioned, bobbing curtsey 
to their best friend, and as they bent their un- 
certainly balanced bodies to Miss Broad to-day 
they included the guests in the salutation with 
rolling of bright eyes; head-turnings being far 
too risky in such a difficult feat as curtsey drop- 
ping. 

The baby is not far aw'ay,’’ said Miss Broad, 
putting on her simple black hat without a glance 
at the glass, supposed to be used to insure that 
hat^s straightness. 

There is a good woman taking care of her 
near by. She would gladly keep her, but she 
cannot afford such a luxury as a small girl. 
How delighted she will be to know I may have 
her after all!” 

She led the way down the street; the small 
houses had an irruption of heads all along to 
see the band of young folk with her; a band so 
much larger and better dressed than Miss 
Broad’s customary comrades. 

Miss Broad turned the corner of the next, 
similar street, and paused before a low gate. 
‘^This is the house,” she said. 

A woman within had evidently seen them com- 
ing, for she had the door open before Miss Broad 
reached it. She smiled a smile that seemed to 
light up her thin face, with the high cheek bones ; 


THE PLANK 273 

In the hollow of her left arm she held a baby — • 
THE baby! 

“Come right in” said the woman, but Miss 
Broad stopped her and took the baby from her, 
saying in a voice tremulous with hungry mother- 
love: 

“Come here, little daughter/^ 

That was all, but the woman turned upon Miss 
Broad excitedly. “What^s happened?’^ she de- 
manded. 

“Mr. Brett, the father of these five children, 
has recovered my property and I can take the 
baby,^^ replied Miss Broad simply. 

The woman sat down hastily on the stairs. 
“Praises be!^' she cried. “My land, I don^t 
know which to be gladdest for, you or her!’^ 

“No,’^ agreed Miss Broad. “It seems to be 
all one.^’ 

“Well, I^d give something to keep her my- 
self, but 1 never could, and she wouldn^t be 
near so well-off, if I could. Think of the educa- 
tion and trainin’ she’ll have, as well ’s food’n 
raiment! But I declare to goodness, there 
couldn’t be a dearer baby, an’, if she isn’t bigger 
’n a minute, she makes you feel she’s a perfect 
lady! I do honest believe she’ll be a crown’n 
reward to you. Miss Broad dear,” cried the good 
woman. 

“I know she will, my one desire is to be all 
that I should be to her,” returned Miss Broad. 
“ Let us take her into the other room; I want to 
display her to these young people. Now, my 
dears, is she not a lovely little petal?” Miss 


274 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Broad seated herself oo ooe of the straight hair- 
cloth chairs which constituted the penitential 
glory of the ‘^best room,” and set the baby, 
smoothed and enhanced by Miss Broad^s black- 
sleeved arm, before her visitors to the best ad- 
vantage. 

The baby had soft brown hair that lay like 
moss on her head and turned into golden lustred 
rings over her ears and in the back of her neck. 
The ears thus adorned were perfectly formed, as 
were the tiny hands which this small personage 
aimlessly extended. The baby mouth was 
curved and delicate; the absurd nose already 
showed intention to be straight and fine; a 
pair of eyes, as brown and dewy as a fawn’s, 
looked out under a straight little line of eye- 
brows. The girls went down before her, lit- 
erally and figuratively; they fell on their knees 
around Miss Broad and chanted a paean. 

never, never saw such a lovely baby!” 
cried Nan. 

^^No one ever did,” said Mona. 

“Well,” said Kit, “I never have seen much to 
rave over in babies as little as this one but I’d go 
crazy and eat her up if I looked at her long.” 

“The little brown seal!” said Ailsa, while 
Tilly and Gussie kissed the two baby hands. 

“Just that, Ailsa; a little soft-eyed sea), the 
seal on my happiness and the meaning of my 
life,” said Miss Broad. ^^Boys, you haven’t 
said anything.” 

“No chance,” said Ham with a grin. 

“And no use,” supplemented Dins. “1 con- 


THE PLANK 


275 


sider myself a coneoozer of babies, having been 
the oldest of five, but IVe never seen one that 
was a patch on this lady. She’s the peachiest 
sort of a peach.” 

never heard her name,” said Ailsa sud- 
denly. 

^'She was baptised Mary,” said Miss Broad, 
am glad, not only because it is the sweet 
name it is, but because it is your mother’s name, 
Brett children, and if your father had not be- 
friended us, probably the blossom and I could 
not have had each other. But 1 shall add 
Carita to her, for she is to be Love, my little 
love and I shall like to call her that. Carita 
Mary — ^yes, that is it! Carita Mary Broad. I 
wish Broad were not so absurd! Yet, on second 
thought, I don’t know. Carita Broad — ^broad 
love! After all that sounds like a good omen.” 

The baby looked up unexpectedly and uttered 
a soft note, the first sound that she had made. 
Then she laughed, with a funny twist of her 
little lips, and tipped backward on the encircling 
arm, so that her downy head rested in its hollow. 

^^She accepts the omen and promises to make 
good!” Miss Broad interpreted, bending to kiss 
the baby’s forehead. ^^Dear children, tell your 
father how happy I am !” 

Indeed we will. Miss Amabel. He and 
mother will be almost as happy as you are,” 
cried Nan. 

^T’ll tell you what it is, they minded like 
everything having you poor,” declared TiUy. 

^^It wouldn’t have mattered, but for this,” 


276 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


said Miss Broad, drawing the. baby closer. 
‘^Wheo may I take her, Mrs. Carey?^’ 

guess that^s for you to say,” replied the 
good woman who had taken care of the baby. 
“1 declare to goodness I^m goin’ to hate like 
everything to give her up, glades I am about it!” 
Her face worked and she bent over to pull out 
one of the baby’s ruffles. 

^^Mrs. Carey, don’t you think I’d better take 
you too?” asked Miss Broad, with one of her 
whimsical smiles. ^^You’ve nothing to hold 
you here. I shall want to keep on with my 
little kindergarten. Come to me and take care 
ofCarita! Will you?” ^ ‘ 

'^Oh, Miss Broad,” cried Mrs. Carey, turning 
a purplish red. And to think you hadn’t an 
idea that I couldn’t keep on payin’ rent, any- 
how!” Which was a queer way to accept the 
offer, but was clearly an acceptance. 

^^Mrs. Carey has an invalid sister to support, 
bed-ridden,” explained Miss Broad to the 
young people. ^'Another sister looks after her, 
but this one has to supply the means of liveli- 
hood. Dear Dramatic Association , baby Carita 
does not need that sixty dollars, now that I 
have enough for us both; would you approve of 
giving it to Mrs. Carey for her invalid?” 

^^Sure thing!” shouted Dins, supported by 
the two other boys. 

‘^What a splendid suggestion!” cried Ailsa. 

I suppose we could go around to every house 
and explain to the people who bought tickets 


THE PLANK 


277 


why we used the money for something else/’ 
said conscientious Nan^ 

“No one will mind, dear; the tickets would 
have been bought whatever purpose you had 
selected to benefit/’ said Miss Broad. “Why 
did you peep at your watch slyly, Kitty? Are 
you making yourselves late?” 

“I have to go home,” said Kitty. “I was to 
have spent the day away, but mamma had a 
headache; she told me to be early to lunch, that 
we might go afterward, if she were better. The 
rest needn’t come.” 

“Oh, yes; we have to go, too,” said Nan. 
“Good bye, little lambkin, you dearest of 
babies!” Will you let us have a wee share in 
her. Miss Broad, just a little share?” 

“All you can absorb,” consented Miss Broad. 
“She will not be truly Clarita unless she can 
be divided and never lose anything.” 

Mrs. Carey, who had been quietly crying 
because of her unforeseen rescue from trouble, 
let the Dramatic Association out; Miss Broad 
lingered in the little house with her treasure. 

No one spoke for a long time on the way home. 
Then Nan spoke out of the silence which had 
been filled with thoughts of what they had all 
been seeing and feeling. “Rich or poor, what- 
ever happens to her. Miss Amabel is j ust nothing 
on this earth but an example. She’s a saint 
and that’s all there is about it! Did you notice 
when she heard that daddy had got that money 
back the only thing she thought of was that 


278 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


DOW she could look after that darliog little, 
loDesome baby?” 

course we did,” said Ailsa. “She may 
call the baby Clarita aud there couldn’t be a 
more real little Love, but Miss Broad wasn’t 
named Amabel for nothing! She’s lovable and 
beloved fast enough! I’d rather be that plain, 
lonely, elderly woman than anyone I ever saw, 
unless it were Molly-Mary.” 


CHAPTER XVI 

^‘WHAT, AILSA BRETT 

‘^This has been a very improving winter/' 
announced Ailsa. She was sitting alone with 
her sister-in-law, mending Gussie's stockings 
which wore at the knees, and not in the feet. 
Consequently it was such a compliment to her 
darning to be allowed to repair these prominent 
holes that it modified the tedium of the task. 

^^What has improved in it?" laughed Mrs. 
Brett, though she knew what Ailsa meant. 

I have, or at least I Ve seen how to improve," 
replied Ailsa promptly. ^^What do the Scotch 
mean by talking about studying Hhe human- 
ities,' Molly-Mary?" 

^^The classics, Latin and Latin literature. 
The term survives the ages when learning was 
divided into theology, divine learning, and 
human, secular learning, hence called the hu- 
manities. What set you off on that, Ailsa the 
Unexpected?" asked Mrs. Brett. 

‘^You're nice, Molly-Mary! You are playful 
and busy, yet you do know things," said Ailsa 
with profound satisfaction. ^^The word is al- 
ways in Scotch stories — Hhe humanities' is 
what the village people always say the boy is 
going to study in ‘Glasca.' What put it into 
my head? Oh, that's what I've been studying; 
that's all. Only I didn't mean Latin. 


280 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


^^Ailsa, I can follow your remarks, but it 
makes me downright conceited to do so! You 
are surely wanderiog!’^ cried Ailsa’s Molly- 
Mary. 

^^Human things— and people/’ persisted A ilsa. 
^^That’s what I’ve been studying. And I’ve 
learned heaps. There is that lovely M iss Broad 
— I never knew anyone like her before. Just as 
peaceful when she had lost all she had, just as 
ready to give up her fine home and be contented 
among the poor — and she is so fond of every- 
thing beautiful, too; a real aristocrat!” 

That’s it, Ailsa: a real aristocrat, not an 
imitation! That’s one pomt, and another is 
that Miss Broad has a vital, living faith that 
everything that comes to her is sent to her, and 
she takes all the events of her life as part of the 
gifts and plan of Love. Comparatively few 
people really feel this, though a good many pro- 
fess to believe it. Do you see what a difference 
really believing it would make?” suggested 
Mrs. Brett 

‘^Oh, I see, Molly^Mary I” cried Ailsa. ^^It’s 
the seeing that I mean has made this winter so 
improving. And then this happy-go-lucky 
household, everybody as jolly as a grig, having 
a good time all the time, in the nicest ways there 
are and not seeming to care anything at all 
about money! You are as busy as you can be, 
with five children and only Amanda, and you 
train up the children to help you, but you play 
with them and we are all as happy as people can 
be! You never care a speck about forms or 


‘‘WHAT, AILSA BRETT 1” 


281 


show, yet you are more particular about the 
children frieods than any other mother I 
know — only they are not chosen for their 
clothes, nor the houses they live in!^’ 

“Well, but, Ailsa dear began Mrs. 

Brett. 

“Now, Molly-Mary, I know! But it isn’t 
so that any good mother feels this way, or at 
least women who are supposed to be good 
mothers!” cried Ailsa. “I think lots of them 
would say you were wrong, that you ought 
to be ambitious for your children. 1 see who 
is right ! j t’s the best thing tha t ever happened 
to me to have come here! Molly-Mary, you 
don’t quite know how much the people I’ve lived 
with care about just what you think doesn’t 
matter! 1 never took to fuss and feathers, but 
that was because 1 loved to read and those 
things didn’t interest me. Maybe if 1 hadn’t 
come here 1 should have wakened and begun to 
push and pull and bother, been a society woman, 
like mamma. I do mean to know how to enter- 
tain and do what belongs to me to do — ^you 
entertain beautifully, Molly-Mary! 1 think 
probably it’s because you aren’t trying to get at 
anything for yourself, and so you make it fine 
for everybody else. But I don’t want to be just 
a society woman. You’ve shown me what I 
would like to be!” 

“Little Ailsa, darling, that’s a long speech 
and a hard one to answer!” cried Mrs. Brett. 
“Your brother is not rich. Perhaps if I had as 


282 THE LITTLE AUNT 

much wealth as your mother I should love it 
too.” 

You know you wouldn^t!” cried Ailsa, shak- 
ing her head hard. Loving money is loving it. 
If you haven^t it you’re squirming and worrying 
and getting cross because somebody else has, 
and if you have it you lean right down hard on 
it and think what it buys and what you can do 
with it is the greatest thing in the world! That’s 
loving it! You’d never love it, Molly-Mary.” 

“No, dear, I shouldn’t be a money-lover. I 
truly think. But if you are not one, so it doesn 't 
clog your soul and mind, then it is nice to have 
money. It’s like all material things, Ailsaj de- 
sirable to use, but not to serve. I could use 
more,” said Molly-Mary, candidly, with a half- 
sigh as she surveyed a tear in Jimmy ’s second- 
best knickerbockers that meant many stitches 
and a perfectly visible darn after they were set. 

“There’s something I want to tell you, but I 
suppose I must wait a little longer — I’ve waited 
so long!” Ailsa’s sigh was more unmistakable 
than her sister-in-laws. 

“What ails a Brett?” inquired Dins, entering. 
“How’s that for cleverness. Auntie? I did it; 
that’s my discovery! Do you see it? What 
ails a Brett? Equal to: What, Ailsa Brett! 
Or merely a question: What Ailsa Brett? — • 
though there never would be two of you. Isn’t 
it brilliant. Here’s a letter for you.” Dins 
tossed a letter into Ailsa s lap. 

“May I read it, Moll}^-Mary? It’s from 
mamma,” said Ailsa, anticipating permission by 


‘^WHAT, AILSA BRETT!” 


283 


slitting the envelope with her darning needle. 

Ailsa read her letter, which was not long, 
with a face that betrayed several emotions, sur- 
prise dominating. She paused over the signa- 
ture, frowning at it thoughtfully. 

Mamma is coming to Renwyck,” she an- 
announced, looking up at her sister-in-law. 

‘^To take you home?” cried Dins. 

‘‘Oh, I never thought of that! Most likely 
she will want me to go back with her. But I 
think it is business that has brought her. She 
says she will be here by Friday and I am to 
engage rooms for her at the best hotel in town 
and meet her at the station to take her there, 
Molly-Mary,” said Ailsa. 

“Oh, no — ^must you do that?” cried Molly- 
Mary. “Don^t you think she will be com- 
fortable in this house? I should be sorry to 
have your mother, Gus’s father^s wife, stay at a 
hotel when she came to Renwyck for the first 
time.” 

“Of course she would be comfortable here: 

your guest room is so big and yet cozy but 

Ailsa stopped. She did not know how to suggest 
that her mother and her sister-in-law were 
strangers to each other and that her fashionable 
mother would not fit well into this easy-going 
household's simple ways. 

“I understand the ‘but,’ Ailie, dear, but — 
there's another one! 1 really think the wisest 
thing to do in this world is to ignore buts! Sup- 
pose you tell your mother that your brother 
and sister — can answer for Gus — beg her to 


284 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


come straight to them and that they owe her a 
great deal for lendiog them little Aunt Ailsa,” 
said Mrs. Brett. 

^^Oh, you dearest!’’ cried Ailsa, jumping up 
to hug her Molly-Mary. ^'Yes, I’ll write my 
mother just what you say. I think you mean 
that it is right to do what is right and kind, and 

then if the other one doesn’t enjoy it ” Ailsa 

broke off with one of her expressive gestures to 
signify the blame would rest elsewhere. 

K It was thrilling to the younger Bretts to know 
that Ailsa’s mother was coming. Nan never had 
lost her adrniration for the regal figure, in its 
beautiful garments which stood photographed 
on Ailsa’s dresser. She was half timid, half 
delighted in the prospect of entertaining this 
fine lady in the flesh, beneath the home roof. 
Dins dreaded her coming and showed it, though 
he rigidly repressed all comment that might 
trouble Ailsa. Tilly was frankly jubilant and 
curious; Gussie shared these feelings, while 
Jimmy merely said: ^^It won’t be polite to 
read when she’s in the room, will it? I’ll go up 
stairs; it won’t matter. What’ll we call her? ' 

This question was so difficult to answer that 
the young Bretts referred it to their father. 

^^Mrs. Brett, I think,” he said. 

^^Then she mustn’t be any relation, only just 
stiff company,” said little Gussie, her warm im- 
pulses chilled by this information. 

Mr. Brett and Ailsa went to meet the expected 
stiff company”; there had been no time for 
Mrs. Brett to object to the arrangement made 


‘‘WHAT, AILSA BRETT!’ 


285 


for her visit to Renwyck, had she wished to do 
so. The Brett family awaited their return with 
considerable lowness of spirits, that is the 
younger ones seemed downcast. Mrs. Brett— 
who was deposed to the rank of “Mrs. 
Augustus,’' now that the elder Mrs. Brftt was 
on the scene, hummed as she hurried through 
the last touches of her toilet; if she dreaded 
the other Mrs. Brett, who was too near her own 
age to be called “ttie elder Mrs. Brett,” tlie 
dread did not appear. Nor did Amanda seem 
perturbed: she rolled through her tasks in her 
ordinary portly calm. Amanda considered that 
when her best was done and the faithful soul 
did her best steadily — ^the results were out of 
her hands. 

When the carriage that brought the expected 
guest under escort from the station stopped at 
the Brett door, “MoUy-Mary” had it wide 
open and was smiling a welcome in the frame of 
its casement. Mr. Brett handed a tall lady 
out of the carriage. The children were peeping 
curiously behind the curtains upstairs. They 
saw her gowned in the last perfection of the 
hour, in style and texture. She wore a hat with 
a floating veil, high heeled pumps, and she 
carried a bag that instantly filled Nan’s eyes to 
temporary blindness to all else. She knew in a 
moment that within so fine a bag must be 
hidden entrancing appointments for which she 
had a young girl’s natural desire. The face 
lifted to the windows — from which the young 
Brett’s hastily stepped back — ^was handsome 


286 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


aud looked youog, not with the fresh bloom of 
their mother’s sweet face, but w'ith the delib- 
erate youth of a society woman. And it was 
handsome, cold, but handsome; handsomer than 
the picture, as Nan whispered to Dins, who 
shook his head. Mrs. Brett did not attract 
him. 

‘^How do you do, Mrs. Brett, they heard 
the new arrival saying in silvery, high notes, 
carefully modulated. ^^How good of you to 
insist upon my coming here! 1 hope I shall 
not be a nuisance! I will try to efface myself. 
It was charming of you, but you should not have 
done it, really! I’ve no doubt I should have 
been perfectly comfortable at an inn. My stay 
will be brief. It was so good of you, really! 
Augustus, I have a steamer trunk somewhere 
in your town ; it will arrive by and by, before 
too long, I hope? Ailsa will attend to my 
wants, till my trunk comes, thank you. Oh, 
please not the young people till dinner! 1 
should be so glad to rest in my room till my 
trunk comes, if you don’t mind. Train travel 
is weary work; there was no Pullman on the 
last part of the journey. I detest the common 
coaches, don’t you? I have a negligee in my 
bag, thanks. Where is my bag? Oh, you have 
it, Ailsa! Very well; will you take your 
mother to her room? Thanks, Mrs. Brett, no; 
I shall do perfectly with Ailsa alone, thanks. 
She has been accustomed to acting as my maid 
at a pinch since her childhood. Shocking how 
she is growing up! She looks well, really, better 


^‘WHAT, AILSA BRETT!’’ 


287 


than when 1 sent her away. You have given 
her a look of health, and, really, she is prettier! 
Isn’t it frightful to have one’s daughter growing 
up? I forgot; your son is older than Ailsa, 
Mrs. Brett! But sons don’t matter so much, do 
they? They are rather becoming, when they 
are tall and stalwart, and the mother is young, 

but a grown daughter ” Mrs. Brett’s voice 

broke off in an expressive pause. ^^Till dinner, 
then! I suppose you rest, too, at this hour? 
Ailsa tells me you are a marvel of industry I So 
am I, really; I am perfectly inundated with 
social duties and public ones. 1 am interested 
in so many of the movements of the day! Yes, 
I shall rest nicely, I am sure. Thanks.” 

The young people heard the swish of soft 
silken garments in the hall, passing the closed 
door behind which they huddled. Presently 
Ailsa was scurrying about, fetching hot water, 
then a shaw 1 from her own room, then a cup of 
tea and a biscuit from down stairs, finally there 
was quiet, but for the murmer of Ailsa’s voice, 
broken by a sharp question at intervals from 
her mother, and at last, silence, indicating that 
the traveler was resting. The younger Bretts 
stole down stairs, a greatly subdued and con- 
siderably depressed group. 

They were presented to Ailsa’s mother at 
dinner. The steamer trunk had arrived in the 
interval and Mrs. Brett appeared in a gown of 
wonderful description which made their own 
Mrs. Brett’s gown look painfully inadequate — 
yet after all more in keeping with the homelike 


288 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


dining room, the table ringed about with young 
faceS‘ and the simple, delicious dinner which 
Amanda had cooked. 

The new Mrs. Brett saluted each of the 
children pleasantly, said a few words in that 
aloof attempt at interest which is the best that a 
great many people can do toward making ac- 
quaintance with the next generation, and im- 
mediately and evidently forgot them. 

“I have come to bear Ailsa away,’^ Mrs. 
Brett announced, after dinner in the drawing 
room. Nan started, the other looked gloomy, 
and Ailsa^s mother smiled at Nan. 

‘^You looked flatteringly shocked, my dear,’^ 
she said. ‘‘How nice that you will miss my 
girl! I know that she will miss you. Indeed, 
I am afraid that she will hardly be ready to 
leave you, but I have a tempting bait to offer! 
Ailsa, I am going to take you to Europe 1’^ 

“Are you going abroad?’^ asked Ailsa, to gain 
time. Her face was flushed, she looked ready 
to cry. 

“And you with me.’' Her mother nodded 
pleasantly. “It is absolutely necessary, a part 
of education, and my poor Ailsa has slipped 
through a great deal else that should have been 
in her early training. I shall travel slowly all 
summer and probably settle down for the winter 
in Paris. Ailsa will enjoy it all, but it will give 
her far more than mere pleasure. What is this 
about the pink glaze china, Augustas?” she de- 
manded unexpectedly. 

“About the — ” Mr. Brett began to question. 


*‘WHAT, AILSA BRETT!’’ 


289 


but stopped, with a puzzled glance at his wife. 

Ailsa has written nae many times in regard 
to it,” Mrs. Brett went on. I have come here 
partly because of it, that, and the matters re- 
lating to Ailsa’s guardianship, on which we have 
corresponded. Do you think, really, that own- 
ing the main part of that old china gives you a 
claim upon my husband’s estate?” 

“1 am entirely in the dark, Mrs. Brett; I 
have not the faintest idea what you mean,” 
said Mr. Brett, and MoUy-Mary looked at Ailsa 
for enlightenment. 

^^Is it possible that Ailsa has not told you? 
Ailsa, have you not spoken of this absurd 
quixotic notion of yours to your relatives here?” 
demanded Mrs. Brett. 

^‘No, mother,” said Ailsa. ^'But it isn’t 
absurd.” 

‘‘May Ailsa tell us about it. now?” suggested 
Molly-Mary. 

“It was the day we were mending china, 
Molly-Mary; the day so long ago when little 
Gussie fell ill,” said Ailsa. “You showed me 
the pink glaze china, you remember? And you 
told me the story of it. Then 1 knew what my 
father had meant; little as I was, I never forgot 
what he said to me just before he died. It was 
such a strange thing to say; I couldn’t under- 
stand one bit what he meant, and so I never 
forgot. I puzzled over it as I grew older. 
Father said: ‘Little Ailsa, see that the pink 
glaze china goes with the rest of the set. There’s 
a spell about it. And be sure you say to your 


290 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


mother than ten thousand dollars goes with it. 
It is his. Tell him I’m sorry, I’m sorry not to 
see him. When you’re old enough, see to it 
that the pink glaze goes with the rest and ten. 
thousand dollars to boil water for the tea. 
Don’t forget, little Ailsa, when you’re old 
enough. I meant to do it, I meant to! Ten 
thousand to boil water for his tea, and my love.” 

In the complete silence that followed Ailsa’s 
tremulous recital of her story a log fell apart in 
the fireplace. Gussie jumped, then ran to be 
taken up into her mother’s lap, feeling, without 
understanding, that there was something grave 
in the air. 

You will see, Augustus, that this is absurd; 
it does not constitute a claim upon me. Your 
father left you something, but the rest of his 
property was left in trust to me for his other 
children; the bulk of it for Ailsa, who was his 
favorite and the baby.” Mrs. Brett’s voice had 
a new sharp ring; it’s honeyed sweetness was 
lacking. 

^^This is the first time I have heard of this 
singular legacy, this bequest through a child. I 
am glad to get my father’s message. I, too, 
have been sorry many times that I could not 
have seen him before he died. But as to a 
claim upon you, certainly this would not con- 
stitute a legal claim, nor have I the slightest 
desire to establish one.” Mr. Brett spoke 
slowly; there was emotioo in his face and voice. 

am glad to hear you speak so reasonably,” 
eaid his step-mother, plainly relieved. I should 


“WHAT, AILSA BRETTI’^ 


291 


contest anything like an attempt to establish a 
claim on such ground; it would not hold a 
moment. On the other hand I am ready to ship 
to you the rest of that old pink glaze set. It 
really is a pity to separate it. Few sets survive 
so many years. I never use my part of it. I 
will send it to you. But not the money! I^m 
not going to make you a present of ten thousand 
dollars, Augustus, really!’^ 

“Certainly not,’’ Mr. Brett was beginning, 
but Ailsa interrupted him, her voice quivering 
with excitement, her eyes dark and dilated. 

“It is exactly as much yours, Gus, as any- 
thing can be!” she cried. “My father said so 
distinctly. He told me to be sure to remember 
when I was older, and I do remember, and I 
want to do what is right. He said he meant to 
do it himself, that is to give you the money. I 
didn’t know whom he was speaking of; I didn’t 
know what he meant, but I couldn’t forget what 
he said. And it is just as much yours as — as 
can be!” 

“Softly, little sister,” said Mr. Brett, putting 
out his hand and taking Ailsa’s burning one. “I 
don’t want the money, believe me. I’d rather 
it were yours by and by. But I’m truly thank- 
ful you did not forget the message. It would 
not constitute a claim. We don’t worry about 
the money part of it. What a nice story it 
makes and what a strange one! That old pink 
glaze china and my father recalling it at the 
last!” 

“I’ll certainly see that the pieces I have are 


292 THE LITTLE AUNT 

packed aod sent to you at once,” said Mrs. 
Brett. 

'^It is a — what is the word? — a moral claim,” 
said Ailsa, unexpectedly, with great decision. 
^‘IVe been begging mother to say she’d give 
you the money. I’ve been writing and writing.” 

Mrs. Brett laughed, not pleasantly. Ailsa 
is Donna Quixote; she is too young to know the 
value of what she is so ready to throw away,” 
she said. 

Precisely,” said Mr. Brett. ^^Nor is she old 
enough to have forgotten the value of honor, 
which was dear to her father and mine; some 
people think that honor is more precious than 
gold, Mrs. Brett. Be comforted, Ailsa, little 
true sister! I return the money to you; I 
would not accept it; you would not in my place. 
Now it is yours in right and truth.” 

Oh, Gus, you’re ever so much more than half 
a brother I” cried Ailsa, with a sob. Impetuously 
she sprang up and dropped on her brother’s 
knee, hiding her face in his shoulder, over- 
powered with a loneliness that she did not under- 
stand, but which came from her sense of lack of 
sympathy with her own mother and the prospect 
of being separated from these dear people, who 
were really her nearest kin, though not closest 
to her in blood. ^^As soon as I’m old enough 
to get it myself I shall give you that money, any- 
way, and if you won’t take it I shall give it to 
Nan,” Ailsa said in her brother’s ear. 

Mr. Brett patted Ailsa’s dark hair in some 
embarassment, while her mother looked at her 


*‘WHAT, AILSA BRETTr’ 


293 


with cold disapproval, and the younger Brett 
children stared in open amazement. Dins and 
Nan understood, and were profoundly moved. 

^‘Such a dear girl!^' said Mrs. Augustus Brett, 
hugging Gussie close to her in default of being 
able to hug Ailsa. 

‘‘I can understand your admiration for her 
childish attitude on this question,’^ Mrs. Brett 
permitted herself to say. Ailsa is a dear girl, 
perhaps, but she is not the kind of girl I hope to 
make of her. A year abroad will do wonders for 
her.^’ 

^‘The money which Augustus’s father meant 
for him we shdl never take,” said Molly-Mary. 
‘‘But no one could help loving Ailsa for wanting 
to carry out his wish. 1 am sure I don’t know 
what we shall do without the child!” 
i* “Don’t take me to Europe, mother, please, 
please don’t!” Ailsa implored, slipping from her 
brother’s arm and turning to her mother. “I 
am learning so much, I am learning so very 
much! Please, please, let me stay here while 
you are gone! I know they will keep me. I 
shall only be a nuisance to you, trailing all over 
Europe, hating it. Take a maid instead; you’d 
have to take one anyway, though! Well, do 
something else; take a pleasant friend. I 
would n’t be a comfort to you; I never was. And 
I’ll be better fitted to go later; I’ll promise to 
go later and not say a word. Maybe by that 
time they’ll have found the Mona Lisa and I 
can see it. You wouldn’t care to have me miss 
such a famous picture, would you, mother?” 


294 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


The Bretts burst out laughing at this, but 
Ailsa^s mother saw nothing funny in it. 

‘^Ailsa, to be perfectly truthful, I’m not 
especially anxious to take you to Europe with 
me. I think hobbledehoy girls, neither children 
nor grown up, are, to say the least, tiresome. 
But you need Europe; it is my duty to give 
you what advantages lie in my power. I am 
going myself, therefore you are to go with me,” 
she said. 

Mother, I’ll study art tiU I’m eighteen or 
twenty, then it will do me more good. I — ^I 
shall be wretched if you take me now! Please 
don’t! I’ll be seasick on the sea, and homesick 
on the land, and — Oh, mother, mother, leave 
me here! I’ve been so lonely always and didn’t 
know what was wrong! You never cared to have 
me with you: you always liked committees and 
clubs better than children. And now I’m happy, 
and learning what I never knew. Mother, let 
me stay!” 

^^It would be a good thing for you to go, Ailsa 
darling,” interposed Molly-Mary softly. ‘^We 
shall miss you dreadfully, but it may be best 
for you to go.” 

^^Not now, Molly-Mary; not yet,” Ailsa said. 
'‘Even you don’t know. It will be better to 
go later. Nan and I will go later!” Ailsac’s 
face lit up with such delight at this inspiration, 
that it convinced her brother and his wife, and, 
curiously, disgusted her mother to the point of 
suddenly abandoning her plan. 

"Then stay,” she said, fairly taking away 


^‘WHAT, AILSA BRETTr’ 


295 


Ailsa^s breath, though she was used to her 
mother’s sudden and complete distaste for 
things for which she had to conquer too great 
difficulties. suppose that I should enjoy 
the trip better unencumbered. You are wholly 
a Brett; 1 have no other child who is so totally 
unlike me. Pity, for you are clever enough, if 
you care to be, and you are decidedly going to 
be pretty. Curious how you Bretts like to talk 
nonsense, read books, have so little ambition; 
your father was like that.” Mrs. Brett turned 
to her step-son with an air as if she cast off then 
and there all responsibility for Ailsa’s present 
eccentricity and its future consequences. 

Nan was silently, but enthusiastically, hug- 
ging Ailsa in mutual congratulation that she 
had been miraculously preserved to them. 
Ailsa herself was too stunned by the unexpected 
turn of affairs to realize fully that they had 
turned. But she knew that she was profoundly 
glad and thankful, thankful even more than 
glad, that she was to stay in this happy home- 
life where true standards were held, and where 
this solitary youngest child of a thoroughly 
worldly woman was learning the best things in 
life. Time enough for Europe half a century 
later, if need were, but no time to learn to be a 
true, sweet, useful woman if it were not done 
now. And, young as she was, Ailsa knew this. 
More than that, she was so happy, so utterly 
content and happy in this home life that she 
had drifted into! 

^Terhaps if we are to talk over business mat- 


296 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


ters it would be well to do so dow, Augustus/^ 
Mrs. Brett said coldly. “You have been dis- 
satisfied with my mauagement and have not 
hesitated to say so. Of course, as Ailsa^s 
guardian, you have a right — ” 

“Mrs. Brett,” interrupted Mr. Brett, “the 
children are not old enough to hear these things 
spoken of; our discussions of Ailsa^s inheritance 
concern only ourselves. Will you come with 
me into the library, please? We can talk there, 
and I keep my books in the desk in that room.” 

He arose and held back the portiere for his 
step-mother to pass. She went out with the 
soft murmur of her garments, wafting delicate 
odors, the embodiment of grace and beauty, of 
elegance, but also of selfish preoccupation. 

“Oh, Molly-Mary, how pretty and comfy you 
look to-night!” said Ailsa, as the curtain 
dropped behind her mother and brother. “ You 
are so I-don^t-know-how pretty and attractive! 
Just like a hay mow, some way! ” 

“Ailsa, what a dreadful thing to liken poor 
me to 1” cried Mrs. Brett. 

“No, it isn’t and you are!” persisted Ailsa. 
“Soft, fragrant, nourishing, simple, homey — 
all those things! And a good-for-nothing little 
dark girl can cuddle right into your heart ! You 
are exactly like a hay mow, Molly.-Mary! I’d 
have died if I had left you!” 

“People don’t die so easily, little sister, but 
indeed I’m glad to keep you, Ailie,” returned 
Molly-Mary. 


Chapter XVII 


“the house aunt’^ 

Ailsa^s mother went away after three days. 
The Bretts tried to make her visit interesting, 
but they were surprised to discover that there 
was little in Renwyck to exhibit; the town had 
always seemed to them full to over-flowing with 
absorbing events and sights, but when these 
were to be shown to the sort of person that 
Ailsa’s mother was they proved illusive. Not 
that Mrs. Brett was not polite; she tried to be 
thrilled by the new cemetery, with the Soldiers’ 
Shaft in the middle; by the silk and woolen mills 
at the far end of the town, by the library, the 
“opera house,” the simple drives into the ad- 
joining pleasant, but not impressive country. 
But one feels it when a guest is “trying” to be 
thrilied and the enthusiasm of the exhibitor 
wanes. The family felt that Jimmy implied the 
opinion of them all when he observed: 

“I guess Mrs. Brett will like Europe.” 

Mrs. Brett had long ago out-grown little 
everyday places like Renwyck and she had not 
that rare faculty of seeing everyday places 
through the enthusiasms of those who love them 
and live in them. 

Ailsa and her mother together were a revela- 
tion to the younger Bretts, accustomed to the 


298 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


close intimacy of their relations with their own 
mother and their Daddy Brett.’’ 

It was pathetic to Ailsa’s brother and sister 
to see the girl striving to be loving and intimate 
with a mother who, in her way, meant well by 
her youngest child. Between them lay the in- 
superable barrier of the childish years when 
Ailsa had been left to the care of Deborah Hope- 
well, the faithful woman who had been given 
this trust, while the mother was occupied with 
outside interests; there was no real approach 
between the mother and her young daughter. 
Mrs. Brett did not seem to feel this loss: it made 
Ailsa wistful and dissatisfied; plainly she felt 
that she was to blame for her failure to draw as 
close to her mother as she did to Molly-Mary. 
And yet she could not fail to perceive the great 
differences that there were between these two 
mothers. It was a relief to everyone when Mrs. 
Brett went away, soon to sail for that long 
European tour from which Ailsa had begged to 
be released. 

None of the young people were told anything 
about the business matters which had brought 
Mrs. Brett to Renwyck for conference with her 
step-son, but it appeared later that Ailsa was to 
have a considerabie allowance and that another 
winter, when her mother was in Paris, she and 
Nan were to be sent together to a famous school. 

So that summer would be the last, for a while, 
of the home-life which Ailsa so loved. 

must make the most of it,” Ailsa declared. 
“I’ve got to be with Molly-Mary every single 


‘THE HOUSE AUNT’’ 


299 


minute, to copy her. I’m going to learn to be 
exactly like her, or as near as it’s in me to come 
to it, before I get to studying. Because it’s 
like me to love to do clever things and to get all 
swallowed up in books, and I do want to be a 
womanly woman.” 

‘‘You’re just going to be a little house aunt,” 
laughed Nan. “Just a little black ant that 
crawls into our house and sticks to it ! ” 

“ Borax and sugar they use to get rid of them, 
don’t they? You might leave out the borax 
for me— and make the sugar maple, will you?” 
suggested Ailsa. 

“ No ; I’ll use a broom and sweep you out, more 
fun,” said Nan. “Oh, Ailsa, I’m so glad you’re 
to stay! A whole year, and then to begin school 
with me in the winter — it will be almost like 
owning you! When it is over I know you’ll be 
my sister by some magic, and not Daddy Brett’s! 
I’m so happy I could fly.” 

“Two-step instead,” advised Ailsa, catching 
her taller niece around the waist and whirling 
her down the room at such a mad speed that they 
could not stop at Peggy, who trotted in at the 
door at the wrong instant. 

There was a yelp and shriek and the two girls 
fell headlong, while Peggy fled back to Amanda’s 
quarters, her brief tail uokinked, her eyes roiling 
wildly; doubtless she was convinced that the 
worst had happened and that the girls, not the 
dog, had gone mad. 

“That was — -a loose — ^Peg,” gasped Ailsa, 
sitting up and rubbing her elbows ruefully. 


300 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


came Dear beiog a loose Peg; we might 
have squashed the dear dumpJiDg! cried Nau. 

Theu they both sat aud rocked themselves, 
laughiug till they cried. Fiually Nan pulled 
herself up aod went out to make her peace with 
Peggy, having nearly made pieces of her,’^ she 
said as she went. 

Mrs. Brett came down stairs, humming as she 
came, short of breath, flushed, her rumpled light 
hair fluffy and frowsily as usual when she was 
busy — and she was always busy. 

What happened down here? she cried. I 
heard a dash and then a crash — ” 

^^And you came near hearing, or seeing a 
mash,’^ Ailsa interrupted her. Nan and I were 
two-stepping and Peggy came in and we collided. 
It was like that Uncle Josh record on the talking 
machine — don^t you know? Where he says he 
thought he^d do a two step, in the skating rink 
and he says: ^'Well, I done it! Just two steps 
that was all!’’ 

I hope you didn’t damage Peggy-peg! ” cried 
Mrs. Brett. Ailsa, what is Memori^d Day?” 

^‘The holiday on which we decorate soldiers’ 
graves, and now people decorate other graves 
on that day,” replied Ailsa gravely, but her eyes 
laughed. 

‘^Nonsense, Ailsa Brett; you know quite well 
1 didn’t mean that! Now tell me what day it is, 
properly,” commanded MoJly-Mary. 

Please, Mrs. Augustus Brett, m’am, it is my 
birthday ,” said Ailsa meekly, dropping a curtsey. 

Right, Ailsa Brett, and this year it is your 


HOUSE AUNT^^ 301 

sixteenth birthday, which is important. What 
are we to do about it?’’ said Molly-Mary. 

‘^Pull down the shades and sit all day on the 
floor, weeping,” replied Ailsa promptly. 

don’t want to grow up, that’s one reason 
for keeping the day that way, and another would 
be that I’m such an unsatisfactory person at 
sixteen.” 

‘^Fishing!” remarked her sister-in-law. 

However, we shall not keep it that way! Have 
you noticed that it is growing warm and summer 
like?” 

Yes, ’m,” said Ailsa. ‘^Haven’t you noticed 
that 1 put on a thin dress this morning?” 

I have indeed ! All of which proves that the 
time is ripe for the first picnic of the season, to 
be held on your birthday — doesn’t it?” asked 
Mrs. Brett. 

Molly-Mary, have I ever said I thought 
well of you? If I haven’t I want to say so 
this instant,” said Ailsa with much earnestness, 
her eyes fairly snapping with joy. 

^^What’s going on?” asked Nan, returning 
with Peggy in her arms, the small dog’s feelings 
assuaged, her confidence in her friends’ sanity 
restored. 

The spring has come, gentle Annie,’ ” 
sang her mother, from one of the old song 
collections which Dins studied so faithfully. 
“Have you seen how greea and pink and white 
Renwyck is now? and have you noticed how 
fragrant the air is, how full of sweetness the 
world, even at the mills end of the town? May 


302 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


time, girls dear! I fiud myself dreaming of all 
sorts of vague lovely things: fairies seem pos- 
sible! So I am planning one lovely thing— to 
keep Ailsa^s sixteenth birthday, Memorial Day, 
somehow quite delightfully out of doors/’ 

^^Oh, mumsy, there are times when I’m per- 
fectly willing to have you for a mother!” ex- 
claimed Nan, her manner less temperate than 
her speech. can see — would you mind 

letting Dins and me make up the programme?” 

‘‘It is quite dreadful,” said Mrs. Brett plain- 
tively. “If I have a brilliant idea, then some- 
one tries to rob me of the glory! Yes, Nan, 
if you have the heart to spoil my picnic, or to 
steal it, rather! But please submit your pro- 
gramme to me; I’d like the right of veto.” 

“Certainly, Mary Brett, dearest, only please 
just have the right of veto; don ’t use it,” said 
Nan sweetly. 

“I’d like to be consulted in the arrange- 
ments for my own birthday; you were in all 
the plans for yours, ” said Ailsa. 

“But yours are to be surprises,” Nan told 
her. “I never heard of your birthday cele- 
bration till just now, but I see it must be a 
secret. You’re to forget you have a birthday, 
Auntie dear.” 

Dins and Nan put their heads together; they 
were to be found chuckling and plotting in 
whispers at almost any time after this. They 
enlisted the “outside four,” as they had begun 
to call Kit and Mona, Ham and Giddy, and 


“THE HOUSE AUNT’ 


303 


Ai]sa began to get feverishly curious, but no 
hint of their plan could she obtain. 

^ “In due time, auntie,” was all the satisfac- 
tion she got when she implored to be told at 
least where they were going on the great day. 

The early part of May had been cold that 
year, so the latter part grew rapidly and thor- 
oughly summer-like. The thirtieth fell on 
Friday, a good day for a holiday, as it frees 
three consecutive days from school-work and 
gives almost the sense of having a week of 
vacation. Mrs. Brett and Amanda were ex- 
ceedingly busy that week, but, though Ailsa 
knew they were making good things to eat, she 
could not find out where they were to be eaten. 

“A white dress, Ailie, and a jacket for warmth, 
that is your necessary equipment,” her sister- 
in-law said. “ Be ready at half past eighty we 
shall make a long day of it. ” 

No fear of the Brett household not being 
ready at half past eight! Ailsa was awakened 
before dawn by Peggy barking wildly all down 
the hall and a sharp cry, which she learned 
afterward was Middy’s protest on being stepped 
on where he lay, trustfully asleep. Tilly had 
got up and was crawling downstairs in the hope 
of finding that her clock and the sun were both 
wrong, for it was dark and the clock said it was 
half past three. Unfortunately the dining room 
clock corroborated Tilly’s little swift ticker, 
and the child had to creep back to bed, having 
succeeded in waking the household. They all 


304 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


arose by five and breakfast was out of the way 
by half past seven. 

Lawsy, Dins boy, it ^s a good thing you wake 
up for something! I^d recommend Memo- 
riam days celebrashums ’most any time of 
yeah, for it ’most fills a body’s grave to git you 
out’n baid when you ain’t havin’ some such 
enticements,” said Amanda, beaming on the 
handsome lad, her prime favorite, as he strapped 
down a basket which would need a lock and 
a time fuse to protect it if anybody knew what 
was in it, ” Dins said. Amanda was susceptible 
to praise of her cooking. 

At half past eight a wagon drove up to the 
door. It was filled with straw. It was also 
partly filled with passengers — Mona, Kit, Ham, 
Giddy, Miss Broad, baby Carita, in Mrs. 
Carey’s arms, happy Mrs. Carey, who rarely 
had had pleasure in her life. 

Most wonderful of all, at the upper end of 
the wagon sat four smiling young Italians, two 
playing violins, one a viola, one a flute and 
they were making both lively and pretty music 
when ^Hhe chariot,” as Jimmy called it, drove 
up. 

The Bretts fairly tumbled out of the house, 
pushing Ailsa ahead of the others. ^^Many 
happy returns of the day ! ” shouted the wagoners 
in chorus and the musicians dashed into “Hail 
to the Chief. ” This had been Dins’ instruc- 
tions; he could think of nothing more appro- 
priate with which to greet Ailsa on her appear- 
ance. 



Dins Helped Her to Her Seat With Dignity, . . Jimmie 
Appeared In White Robes, Suggestive op a Bishop’s 


^The Little Aunt) 


(Page 307) 








^ •“ V. « 


- # 11 


t -4 ^ 


‘VV 4 

/A‘V~J 

• . ■ - '^;^' ^ 


' • 

•t 


- 


■ .- 

? w 






( „ Vv »iL ’• t 


» w. 

»J # 




- t •- 

4 


T? < ‘ ■' # ' • ' i *^ 1 - < - ' 




f .^1’ ' . ^ >• ■--^. rr^^^ar 

■'1* Jtw '»« ■•••' ' St-' f ■ 

> ■ ■ r.v ■• .. iiaaa -^jk'»?K7Tri;. 



im\.M : r AT 9^ • «M 

1 ..• »>3 

■ ’ j. ' 

IriSu* ' f *> ^ 

•' ■ .^.JfcVi ^ 

- ,’ V ■;* ^^■■i\/>.: > .yfS , mm ii ■Zf'^- 


II 


\ 

rj 

i<r 







• ;• 

• •• 

i 1 . 






^ t 1 ik^ 


• ^ > 


> i 




4 -J^ 




• f 


I, 


i 1 fr 


i 


♦ / 


4 • 
% 


I.'. 


?4 





‘^THE HOUSE AUNT’^ 305 

all thiDgs!’^ gasped Ailsa, really over- 
come. 

^^WeVeall gotourown iostrumeDts besides!’^ 
shouted Jimmy, excited beyond his wont. He 
produced his ocarina from his pocket to prove 
that he was ready to swell the volume of sound. 

^^Pile in, youngsters; Mary, you first com- 
manded Mr. Brett. ^HVe brought my flute. 
Sweet Sixteen. We are going, in classic phrase, 
to whoop it up for you all day!’’ 

And they did! When all the Bretts were in 
the wagon, all but Middy, who could not have 
borne the noise, but including Peggy and 
Amanda, and when the baskets were bestowed 
with the baskets which the outside quartette 
had brought, the horses started. They pro- 
ceeded to the strains of music which brought 
Renwyck children, as they passed, to see if the 
Memorial Day parade had actually started 
so early. They drove through the town, 
not worrying a bit that conventional people 
marvelled that “Mrs. Brett could bring her- 
self to take part, as she did, in all the children’s 
capers,” Mrs. Brett, who had been the chief 
instigator of the whole thing, and who enjoyed 
it every bit as much as Gussie, though she did 
not have to be held own in her enthusiasm 
like Gussie! They drove out through the town, 
which receded as they went, diminishing into 
streets with houses far apart and finally dis- 
solving into grassy fields, green as fields are 
green in May, only, bordered with trees of 
tender leafage, melting into soft mist-veiled 


306 THE LITTLE AUNT 

browDS aud purples and yellows of new-clad 
distances. 

The poetry and beauty of spring quieted 
somewhat the noisy rapture of this party’s 
setting forth. The musicians, with Italian 
quickness to sympathize with moods and to 
feel beauty, drifted into softer music, senti- 
mental, wistful. 

But when, at last the wagon turned into a 
road little driven, the result of wood cutter’s 
cart wheels, and reached the picnic’s destina- 
tion, and the picnickers scrambled out of the 
straw with cries and groans and appeals to be 
pulled up, the merriment of the beginning 
returned. 

‘^The question to be decided is whether we 
are the Hit-or-Miss Club on a picnic, or the 
Dramatic Association,” declared Ham. 'Hf 
we’re musical then we’ll have a concert; if 
we’re actors we’ll give a play. Which are 
we, Ailsa? Such questions are up to you to- 
day.” 

‘^We are both; first one, then the other,” 
Ailsa decided promptly. 

“But Ailsa is to be crowned queen of the 
fete and — ^though tardily— of the May, first of 
all,” announced Mrs. Brett. 

“Well, 1 will! To think we forgot it!” cried 
Dins. He offered Ailsa his hand. 

“Lady Ailsa, let me lead you to the corona- 
tion room,” he said. 

The musicians struck up a march, the com- 
pany formed in line behind Ailsa and her es- 


"THE HOUSE AUNT^ 


307 


cort, they marched around and around, till, 
suddenly, Dins dove under some over-hanging 
branches and Ailsa uttered a cry of pleasure 
at what was revealed on the other side. A 
small space of rocky, moss-grown table land it 
was, framed in a circle of pines, whose needles 
had at once carpeted the ground and cleared it 
of vegetation. At one side of this circle there 
arose a throne of pine boughs and young maples. 
The throne was decorated with branches of 
bright wild azalea, shading from light red, 
through soft pinks to blush white. It was a 
throne beautiful enough for any queen and the 
sixteen-year old monarch who was to ascend 
it was delighted. 

Dins helped her to her seat with dignity. 
After she had assumed it Jimmy appeared in 
white robes, distantly suggestive of a bishop^s, 
and marched toward the throne. From behind 
it appeared Gussie in page costume bearing a 
crown of flowers on a pillow. Jimmy took the 
crown and ascended to the throne. Ailsa bent 
her head and Jimmy crowned her, saying: 

crown you sovereign of us all and queen 
of the day and of the May. Reign over us till 
flowers and Maytime are not sweet. That 
means forever, Jimmy hastily explained, 
Mumsy made up the coronation. ” 

After which the musicians played and every- 
body sang, patriotic airs, familiar old, belSved 
songs till they could recall no more and were too 
tired to want to. 

‘^Now, if the queen approves, I think her 


308 THE LITTLE AUNT 

subjects could be uourished/^ hiuted Mrs. 
Brett. 

The hint needed no underscoring. The 
entire court hurried through the branch-screened 
opening to the throne room and unpacked 
baskets. Amanda was in her element; she 
proudly brought forth what looked like enough 
delicious food for a shipwrecked crew whose 
chance of being rescued was small. Amanda 
looked critically at other people’s concoctions; 
in her heart she felt sure that her own excelled 
them all. 

Peggy sat up begging ceaselessly, but no- 
body noticed her; they were all too busy and 
excited improvising tables and spreading them. 

There was not too much to eat! It was 
incredible, but true! Mr. Brett made the 
coffee; he had learned in old camping days, so 
he insisted that his was the only coffee appro- 
priate to a picnic in the woods. At the last 
moment a freezer of ice cream, which had been 
hidden beside the driver of the wagon, was 
brought forth to ‘Hrim the cap of the climax,” 
Ailsa said. 

It was a rapturous as well as a delicious feast. 
After it was over, for an hour the party sat and 
lay on the ground, telling stories, resting, play- 
ing with baby Carita, who was developing into 
an exquisite “petal,” as her adopted mother 
called her; a serene, sweet, lovable baby, 
friendly to the world and all in it. She was 
handed about like a sort of exotic dessert after 
dinner and enjoyed each one’s petting, most 


‘THE HOUSE AUNT’’ 309 

of all big black AmaDda’s, who had her race’s 
iostmct for a baby’s likiegs. 

“Nan and I have invented a new game,” 
announced Dins, when everybody was suffi- 
ciently rested. “It is called The Woodchuck. 
Each of us is given a square of ground, about 
two feet, and we are all to dig in it. At the end 
of a certain time — fifteen minutes, we thought — ■ 
time will be called and we’re to announce what 
we’ve found in our plantation. The one who 
finds the most is given a prize. It’s rather 
like that game of seeing who can remember the 
greatest number of objects on a table in a 
certain time. This game is sort of nature 
study — stones of different kinds count, so do 
bugs and such cattle, flowers, of course. Who ’ll 
try? ” 

Everybody was ready to try It, either be- 
cause it appealed to him, or to be amiable. 
Dins and Giddy measured off two square feet 
of land for every contestant. Ailsa was ap- 
pointed a patch so rocky that there was good 
natured protest all around. 

“What can Ailsa find in a heap of stones?” 
cried Tilly. “You change with me, Ailsa; 
I’ve got a perfect pudding of a place 5 easiest 
thing in the world to dig!’’ 

“No, each one must keep what falls to him — 
or her — that’s part of the game. Besides, you 
don’t know whether there are plums in your 
pudding or not, Tilly. That’s part of the fun, 
too| take your luck, and, if it’s bad luck be 


310 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


clever enough to turn it into good/^ said Mrs. 
Brett, who was, of course, in the secret. 

At a signal the whole party was on its knees 
grubbing like the small animal for which the 
game was named. Alisa dug out her rocks. 
She went at them with a mind made up to fear- 
ful efforts; instead she found that all she had 
to do was to roll the rocks away; a task easily 
performed with one hand. They had been 
recently displaced! She looked up, suspecting 
a hoax; the rest were all sitting back on their 
heels, not digging a bit, but watching her with 
intense enjoyment. Beneath the lightly strewn 
soil, below the displaced rocks Ailsa saw white 
edges — ^boxes and wrapping paper! Then she 
knew! It was her birthday and this was the 
way those conspiring Dins and Nan had chosen 
to get her presents to her! 

Ailsa brushed away the earth and pulled 
out packages and more packages. When they 
were all brought forth Ailsa gathered them up 
into her lap, pulled off the gloves with which 
she had protected her hands and went over 
to a shady place to open them, while Tilly and 
Gussie and Jimmy hopped up and down before 
her, the older ones were not less impatient in a 
quieter way. 

There would be no use in trying to tell what 
Ailsa had found in her territory! It was a 
lucky thing for the others that it was not a 
game, after all, for no one else would have had 
a chance at the prize. Books, ties, small 
jewelry, sachets, toilet articles, bags, candy. 


HOUSE AUNT^ 


311 


pretty things for embroidery, everything that 
a girl of sixteen loves, appeared out of the wrap- 
pings of the buried treasures which Ailsa had 
exhumed. And there was a letter from her 
mother which she slipped, unread, into the 
breast of her blouse. 

^^Now the day is over,’’ said Mrs. Brett at 
last, after Ailsa had exhausted her powers of 
expressing her rapture and had still left it unex- 
pressed. 

^^We must drive home. Gather up the 
camp 5 come, children • come, Peggy!” 

The empty baskets were thrown into the 
wagon, the minstrels followed them and the 
picnickers scrambled in, helter skelter, to the 
wildest of tarantellas, which the Italians played 
with their dark eyes laughing and their white 
teeth gleaming at the fun. 

The horses better approved the drive home- 
ward than the drive out of town in the morning* 
they trotted back fast, and the music behind 
them never ceased for a moment. The Hit- 
or-Miss Club played with the Italians, the 
girls sang, so did Miss Broad and Mrs. Brett — 
no wonder Renwyck hurried to see what was 
passing when they got within the town bounda- 
ries again! 

^^Such a beautiful, beautiful birthday!” cried 
Ailsa from the steps, waving farewell to the 
friends in the wagon who were to be conveyed 
to their own homes. 

^^It is a memorable day, as well as Memorial 


312 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


Day!^’ cried Miss Broad, making baby Carita 
wave good-bye. 

Three cheers for Mr. and Mrs. Brett 
cried Ham, standing up in the middle of the 
cart, and the cheers were given with emphasis. 

^^Many happy returns, Ailsa!’’ called back 
the young people as they rolled away. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


A POSTSCRIPT 

^^Molly-Mary/’ said Ailsa, coming into her 
sister-in-law’s room at sunset that night. 
had a letter from mamma.’ ’ 

‘^Yes, dear,” said Mrs. Brett, sitting down 
by the window. Ailsa’s tone showed her that 
there was something more than usual to be 
told her. ^^And, Ailsa, she has sent the few 
pieces of the pink glaze set that we lacked, the 
box is down stairs now; Dins is to unpack it. ” 
I know; mother said she had sent it. She 
has done more than that,” Ailsa trembled with 
joy. Listen to my letter, Molly-Mary! All 
the first part of it is about her going abroad and 
my birthday; she has sent me a ring that I 
always loved, an emerald, for my birthmonth: 
it was mamma’s when she was my age. But 
the main part of the letter is the postscript. 
Do listen, Molly-Mary: T have thought a 
great deal of your certainty that your father 
intended Augustus to have that ten thousand 
dollars, Ailsa. On the whole I believe you are 
right, he could have meant nothing else, though 
why he should have said that to you, a tiny 
child, or why he should imagine his wishes were 
likely ever to be carried out through such a 
message, I do not see. The only theory is that 
he was already too weak to realize to whom he 


314 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


was speaking, or how young you were, but that 
he happened to express to you what was in 
possession of his mind — and you were his fav- 
orite child. The main thing to be convinced 
of is that this desire actually was in his mind; 
was not a chance word, nor the imagining of a 
child. As you at once repeated what he said, 
at the time, the latter theory is disposed of. 

want you to understand fully, Ailsa, that 
it would be impossible to establish any claim 
on such a ground, but 1 hope that I am an honest 
woman. At first I felt that your desire to hand 
over this sum to your half-brother was ridicu- 
lous; now 1 see it differently. Therefore, be- 
cause I have decided that it probably was your 
father’s intention to make Augustus this gift 
I am inclosing to you a check for ten thousand 
dollars, payable to your half-brother. Tell 
him that he has no choice but to accept it; I 
will not receive it back, and, if he does not use 
it, I shall simply deposit it in his name in a 
bank where, though it will not draw much 
interest, still it will be increasing to his benefit. 
I think I could not do anything for you directly 
that would make you as happy on your six- 
teenth birthday as this check will. 1 know you 
felt that 1 was wrong, if not dishonest to retain 
the money, and that it distressed you. It did 
not seem to me my duty to pay it over; 1 am 
willing to acknowledge that 1 was wrong So 
a happy birthday to you, my daughter, and 
though I saw plainly when 1 was in Renwyck 
that you were not going to be congenial to me 


A POSTSCRIPT 


315 


in tastes, yet I want you to feel that your 
mother is one with you, at least in principles. 
1 am sure your kind friends are to give you a 
happy day on your birthday, and I hope 1 may 
increase your happiness by this act. Once 
more, love to you from your mother, Helen 
Brett.^' 

‘'There, Molly-Mary; there!’’ Ailsa held up 
before Mrs. Brett’s astonished gaze the check 
which her mother had sent, then dropped it in 
her sister-in-law’s lap. 

“Oh, we don’t want it, Ailie dear!” cried 
Mrs. Brett. 

“No, 1 know it, but father gave it to you,” 
cried Ailsa. “It was all wrong for you not to 
have it. You don’t know how glad 1 am! 
You don’t know how distressed I was! Oh, 
MoUy-Mary, it’s bad enough not to be really 
intimate with your own family, not to like the 
same things, but it’s perfectly awful to see right 
and wrong differently! It — oh, I can’t tell you 
how it felt to know you— Gus — had not received 
this money, because, of course, law isn’t any- 
thing! Father gave it to him, even if it was 
only through me, when I was so little. I’m 
so happy about it I could fly right up in the 
sky, singing all the way, as they say English 
larks do.” 

Molly-Mary was silenced. Swiftly she 
thought and decided that the kindest, as well 
as the justest thing to do was to take the money. 
For Ailsa was right; undoubtedly it had been 


316 THE LITTLE AUNT 

his father’s intention to give his eldest son this 
legacy. 

She kissed Ailsa without speaking, but Ailsa 
understood. The relief this acceptance was to 
her leaped into her eyes like a ray of light. 
She knew that if Molly-Mary advised her hus- 
band to take the gift, and to regard it as a tardy 
righting of a wrong, it would be done. 

All the young Bretts came trooping up at 
this moment. 

Unpacked the box, mumsy,” said Dins. 
^^It’s the rest of the pink glaze, not a nick in it, 
any more than in what we had. ” 

‘^Now we ought to be rich,” added Tilly. 
^^It’s all together, and we had the rest of the 
luck that goes with that set — ^what was it?” 

Tt brings happiness in the home, in mar- 
riage, in prosperity.’ Isn’t that it, mumsy?” 
asked Nan. 

‘ ^^That is the tradition of the pink glaze 
china, yes,” assented Mrs. Brett. ^^It does 
look as though the magic still were forceful, 
doesn’t it? For we hardly could be a happier 
household, and now we are growing richer!” 

think we grew rich last fall, when Ailsa 
came,” said Nan. ‘^It didn’t seem as though 
we could be richer, but a sister my own age was 
a regular gold mine added to me. ” 

^^That ’s so, ” agreed Tilly heartily. Ailsa ’s 
a regular anaconda.” 

'^The pill is trying to say Golconda!” cried 
Dins rapturously, the clue to Tilly’s meaning 
being Nan’s simile of the gold mine. 


A POSTSCRIPT 


317 


Never mind, Tilly-Billy: they might easily 
have named that mine the Anaconda!’’ Tilly’s 
mother comforted her. 

Gussie was moved to hug Ailsa. hope 

you ’ll never spend a birthday anywhere but just 
here,” she ’said. 

dont believe I want to,” said Ailsa. 
did need you all so dreadfully!” 

“Well, we sure needed you!” said Dins. 

“Not the maiden aunt! 1 seem to remember 
hearing that of all things we least needed a 
maiden aunt in the house!” cried Mr. Brett, 
coming into the room unheard. 

“ Daddy Brett, we didn ’t need a maiden aunt, 
not a real, made maiden aunt, but we needed 
a little aunt terribly, really terribly cried 
Nan. 

“And nobody could be less of an aunt than 
1 am! ” cried Ailsa. “ It’s just the nicest, best, 
happiest thing in the world to drop into the 
middle of a loving home and me part of it! 
I had no idea how lovely it was. I wouldn’t 
care whether I was a grandfather, an aunt, or 
an armchair, as long as I got set down right in 
the heart of — of such heartiness as 1 ’ ve learned 
about! Molly “Mary knows what I mean!” 

“Oh, yes, Molly-Mary knows,” smiled Mrs. 
Brett, rising and patting Ailsa’s shoulder. 

“Molly-Mary has always felt precisely as 
you do, Ailie. It’s a curious and a blessed 
truth about a womanly woman that big things 
cannot fill her, but little things fill her to over- 
flowing — if a home and a chance to live for her 


318 


THE LITTLE AUNT 


husband and children are little things; some 
people seem to think they are!^^ 

^‘And a chance to make a little aunt happy, 
and to make a little girl grow up into a big 
woman — like her sister-in-law?’^ hinted Ailsa. 

That, too, Ailie, ” said Mrs. Brett. “Though 
the children didn’t find fault with their little 
aunt, just as she was when she came. ” 

“I’ve made a sort of proverb-sounding thing 
on you, Ailsa. I meant to have had it ready to 
spring on you out in the woods, but I got stuck 
on it. Now ’s it ’s done. Listen to it. ” Dins 
struck an attitude and declaimed: 

“A little aunt rejoiceth the Bretts, and a 
twelvemonth more of her is a boon and a 
blessing. And if anyone asketh: What ails 
her? In chorus shall the Bretts reply: The 
httle aunt, Ailsa! And she is all right!” 

“Oh, Dins! Oh, Dins,” cried Nan. “Isn’t 
that dreadful?” 

But they all laughed, for people who are 
happy laugh at little. And down in the bot- 
tom of her heart “the little aunt” liked Din’s 
absurdity, because she felt perfectly sure that 
this beloved family meant every word of this, 
and more. 







i 


I 



I 

I 




. '■ ' 


« 


4 




« 


















